A lot to be thankful for.

I am one of the most festive people I know. I'm pretty sure I got it from my Kindergarten teacher, who turned every day she could into a holiday. I went to Kindergarten at my Church, and our classroom was in the same hall as our pastor's office. Every day, we had to tip-toe and whisper up the hallway so as not to disturb the pastor from his studies. However, every once in a blue moon, there would be a sign on the pastor's door saying he was not there. In my 5-year-old world, those were the best days of life: our entire Kindergarten class, including my teacher, would run, screeching at the top of our lungs, through the hallway. And I'll never forget our groundhog's day celebration, where each student had to eat an entire bowl of jelly beans without using his hands. Most of the holidays we celebrated in Kindergarten I'd never even heard of before, but if it was on the calendar, (or even if it wasn't) we partied it up big time. Yom Kippur, Japanese New Year...you name it, we had it. We even had such an huge party after completing 100 days of schoolwork that to this day I throw myself a party every year on my 100th day of school. Once I even baked myself a cake.

Anyway, I am that girl who counts down the days until November 5th every year so she can start listening to Christmas music on 100.3. The one who asks for Christmas decorations for Christmas. Who has a drawer reserved only for Christmas jewelry. Who makes her piano students start playing Christmas songs the first week in November. As I said to try to make my 13-year-old piano student feel somewhat better about playing themed musical games before every holiday (while I was pulling out my Thanksgiving-themed musical bingo board at our lesson yesterday) "By now, you probably know I just can't do holidays without major celebration."

(I was SO excited that my dad put up the Christmas lights early this year. :)

 Unfortunately, this festiveness sometimes makes me forget the real significance of holidays. I get so excited about decorating my entire house in my favorite color for Valentine's day that I forget the day is actually in honor of a saint. I get so busy painting Easter eggs I forget to rejoice in my Lord and Savior. So this Thanksgiving, I don't want to get so caught up in making Oreo turkeys with the kids I babysit that I forget to thank God for turkeys and Oreos and small children and all the other things there are to be thankful for. I look at my life and I am amazed by how blessed I am. I have a loving family, a warm house with a fireplace, slippers, hot cocoa, mashed potatoes, cookies shaped like pilgrim's hats, and so many other things that other people don't get to enjoy this time of year. And I don't take enough time thanking the One who has provided me with all this bounty. So this Thanksgiving week, I'm going to conscientiously set aside time every day just to thank God. Not to ask Him for anything, not to pray for guidance or wisdom or safety or anything else, just to thank Him. Will you join me in this Thanksgiving challenge? I know we will be blessed when we take a step back from holiday festivities to thank our awesome God.  

"I'm giving my life to the only one who makes the moon reflect the sun.

Every Starry Night, that was His design.
I'm giving my life to the only Son, who was and is and yet to come
Let the praises ring, 'cause He is everything!"