I've got plenty to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving and the beginning of the beautiful Christmas season! As you can tell, I'm very excited about it, sweater, hat, and all. 'Tis the season to be jolly! And heck, I am going to be as jolly as I gosh darn please. Yup, I'm in love with this season.

I was going to post on Thanksgiving, but I totally missed it due to other activities (such as eating, eating, and sleeping). So here I am, four days later, repenting of being so neglectful. But, as Robert Caspar Litner put it, "Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut in one day." So here's my belated list of things I am thankful for, the list that at least half American's write once a year.

Ahem.

- I'm thankful for a Mom and step-father who are so loving and supportive, and who send me home with bags and bags of groceries from Whole Foods and Thanksgiving left-overs.
- I'm so, so, so thankful for the little brothers who blanket my face with kisses and never let my body get too cold because of their constant hugs and love.
- I'm thankful for a little sister who is three inches taller than me, who - though she sometimes hurts me when she demonstrates what she learns from her self-defense class - is an angel of happiness, always making those around her laugh with the littlest of effort.
- I'm always thankful for a big brother who is content to sit and watch episode after episode of House (or Home, as Mom likes to call it) with me and knows exactly when to walk when we're going on runs together late at night, or just acts like a total dork when it's just the two of us.
- I'm thankful for a big sister who helps me make apple pie, knits beautiful treasures, goes to get hot chocolate with me when I'm feeling a bit blue, writes lovely poems reminding me of just how much she loves, and loves to watch me dance even if I fail miserably.
- I'm thankful for little dogs who bring love to their families and friends, because, really, "happiness is a warm puppy." (Charles M. Schulz)
- I'm thankful for best friends who are happy to sit on the phone for three hours in the middle of the night just talking, or who come over and snuggle me in bed for hours at a time just giggling at everything, or who's example inspires me without their notice.
- I'm thankful for the memories of a sweet Dad and nights of watching Star Trek with huge bowls of popcorn and me as his pillow, rides in his hot rod on a sunny Washington day, and the couple of nights he spent teaching me how to dance in the living room when I was so little.
- I'm thankful for strangers that I meet in the strangest and busiest of places, who fill little spots in my heart I didn't know existed, let me play with their puppies, fill my inbox with lovely little nothings, and share their understanding of life and love.
- And last but not least, I'm thankful for all the miraculous beauties of this earth that fill my soul with joy, be it the stars or the blades of grass, the laughing leaves in the wind or the billowing clouds high above, the wondrous faces of strangers passing by, or the silence when all is asleep.

I know it, and I've known it all along: I'm such a blessed girl. My list could be never ending, but for today I'm keeping it to the most precious of things close to me that remind me all the time how lucky I am. Sometimes I get frustrated at life and relationships, not knowing what lies around the next corner and feeling like things never go exactly the way I want, but these precious things remind me that it'll all work out no matter what.

And that's that.
Goodnight!