It’s almost been a week since Thanksgiving, and it’s time to get into the Christmas season. But I am going to talk about our Thanksgiving weekend in today’s post.

This was the first time our family participated in a traditional Thanksgiving meal. No, I didn’t do the cooking. Our friends so graciously invited us to join them. We wouldn’t say ‘no’ to an opportunity for good food and a great time with friends. Technically, I don’t get to celebrate Thanksgiving, because I am not American. But we think it is a good idea to use this time to actually ‘give thanks’ and of course, eat turkey.

This is the fourth year that we are in the US for this holiday, and it was only in the last year that I came to know about a little about the history behind this holiday. So I am quite new to celebrating Thanksgiving. A couple of years back, I tried my hand at whole turkey, and it wasn’t bad at all. Apart from the feasting with friends part, here’s what we did this year.

My husband and I took some time to look back at the past year. We could tell that the year went by too quickly, and we had moved forward in many ways. That in itself is something to be thankful for. We made a little ‘Thankful’ board and wrote down some “significant” blessings that we received in the past year. I agree that the board is too small to fit in all that we are thankful for. But, this little exercise keeps us in an attitude of gratitude as we continue to think of things we can add to our ‘Thankful’ board.

To make it a regular habit to be grateful, our family has a daily ritual of thanking God for the many blessings. Even our two-year old joins in, as we take turns to list the things we are most grateful for, that day. We have been doing it for a few months, and I have to say that there has never been a day when I had nothing to be thankful for.

Each time I am tempted to grumble about a few inconveniences here and there, I look at the many things that I am thankful for. When I feel like complaining about my busy day, I choose to be thankful for people whom I love and care for, the home we have and the strength to do what I need to.