2010 Giving Thanks Challenge

It is time for the 2010 Giving Thanks Challenge hosted by Leah at South Breeze Farm. I look forward to this challenge every year. It helps me to focus on the up coming holiday season and the true meaning of it. We are so blessed and have so very much to be thankful for. I have missed blogging. It is one of my favorite pass times. So, I'm going to take this opportunity to throw myself back into it. I have always thought of my blog as part gratitude journal and part scrapbook. I store some of my most treasured memories, thoughts and dreams here. I hope it serves as an encouragement to visitors. I love meeting new people and finding a kindered spirit.

The Giving Thanks Challenge lasts throughout the month of November, and you can approach it several ways. Some people like to write a post each day of the month for what they are thankful for. Others like to keep an on going list on their sidebar. Some like to do both. It's a great way to find new blogs. I hope some of you will join us.

I'm getting a late start, so I'm going to do a few things I'm thankful for each day until I catch up .

1. I'm thankful for traditions old and new. I love sharing things that connect us through years and generations. I have traditions with family and friends, and just the memory of them brings joy and warms my heart. For instance, momma and daddy always made enough food to feed an army for Thanksgiving, more than we ever needed for three people. Some years they would invite someone they knew who didn't have someone to have Thanksgiving dinner with. My parents both came from large families, so they knew what it was like to be far away from those you love during the holidays. Some how every year my best friend Peige found her way to our house after all of her family celebrations were over. I have countless memories of the two of us in the kitchen with my mom as she were cleaning up, laughing and cutting up together. We'd find ourselves hours later sitting right there in the floor talking late into the night and eating some of momma's stuffing.

One of my favorite traditions is that we always go to church as a family on Christmas Eve. That is one tradition I intend to keep always with my family as well. We've started a new tradition with my sister, Demetria. For the passed three years, we've have gotten our two families together to take our children to see the lights in Canton. Our kids love it, and it reminds me of how momma, daddy and I would drive over to Leland every year to see the lights on the bayou. I get excited just thinking about it. The holiday season is such a special time. We also get together every year with our very close friends Shelia, Ashley, Marci and John. This last year we had eight children between us and we had a birthday party for baby Jesus. John read the nativity story and he and Hugh helped the kids make reindeer food with the kids. It was so much fun.

I'll be checking in later to add something to my Thankful list. ~Blessings!