Monthly Archives: November 2013

Days of thanks: Getting things done

Whew!  We’ve had some busy weeks.

My kids have each had big assignments to complete for school.  Somehow those always end up being big projects for the parents, too, don’t they?  Supplies and library books are needed; they need help finding illustrations.  It’s a balancing act to provide the right amount of help while ensuring they’re learning their own project management skills.

Meanwhile, I gave myself outdoor projects that had to be finished before the cold weather rolled in for the winter.  After I painted our front door, the shutters needed a new, coordinating color as well.  I also had to complete the patio project I promised to our boys to give them an area to play basketball.

Today I’m thankful we’ve finally wrapped up all of these projects!

The English writer Samuel Johnson said, “Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified.”

None of the projects we completed quite lives up to his lofty description, but it is a great feeling to have them done!

Days of thanks: Celebrating the past and present

Thanksgiving week brings a lot of excitement to our home each year.  We all look forward to the wonderful meal and time with family.  Then Friday is our official kickoff of the Christmas season.  In our family, we don’t start Christmas until we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving.  And the kids are definitely ready to start on Christmas!

This year we have the added joy of attending a wedding this weekend.  We have so many wonderful things to enjoy this week.

Each year Thanksgiving and the Christmas season also bring back many happy memories of past celebrations.  I’m so thankful for both our present blessings and our past joys.

There are people who aren’t with us anymore, and they are greatly missed.  But I’m thankful for the time we had together and the great memories we have of them.  We’ll remember them and recall happy times together.  Those memories are a special part of each holiday season.

Days of thanks: Picturing joy

I’ve tried to understand it, but really it’s like a little miracle to me.

My unscientific brain just can’t quite grasp how I can point a little machine at something, and it creates a digital image that I can store and enjoy forever.  However it works, I’m thankful for cameras.

We have cameras present at all of our most important events in life to capture memories.  But we also use them to capture the little joys of everyday life.  My kids often accuse me of taking too many pictures, but I don’t think that’s possible.  I just need more storage space for them!

I tend to keep all of them, even the less flattering.  And there are a lot of those when you’re photographing three kids.  But those are fun, too.  They make us laugh – just like my brother and I can laugh at some of the bad photos from when we were kids.  You just never knew what you would get from those old film cameras!

I love my digital camera, and I still have a lot to learn about what it can do.  That’s at the top of my preliminary list of new year’s resolutions.  In the meantime, I’m thankful for a camera to capture all the special family moments this holiday season!