By Ann
I follow a lovely little craft and family blog whose author managed to write 52 Thanksgiving posts in just over one year of blogging. Impressive! As expected, her thanksgivings range from the mundane- oatmeal- to her dearest treasures- her husband and soon-to-be-born baby. I always look forward to her blog posts showing up in my inbox, but I find that I read her Thanksgiving posts without delay, just to see if her husband made it on her “To be Thankful For” list again each week. He always does. No matter what happened during her week, good or bad, she always finds an authentic reason to appreciate the man she married. I’ve noticed that sprinkled in among her gratitudes for her husband- he’s handsome, he takes her to craft shows, he bought her a beautiful camera- are things most brides would be complaining about- sometimes he talks too much, he’s a finicky eater, he gets lost or stranded occasionally. She is truly grateful for it all.
It’s been a nice reminder to me, to be thankful always for my husband and children- MY dearest treasures- not just on Thanksgiving Day, but regularly and frequently throughout the year. And, like this blogger, I have tried to be grateful for the unique gifts my family brings to me, even those things that do not always make it to the top of my “favorites” list. In that spirit, I’d like to share some of the things I am grateful for, things that I have permanently removed from my “Pet Peeves” list:
I am grateful my youngest daughter asked for a dog, and just as happy she does not walk or play with her as much as promised. That means that I have taken over some of the walking and playing duties and have been rewarded tenfold! Our dog has a very sweet disposition; she loves almost everyone she meets. She saves her greatest affection, however, for those of us who play fetch and go on walks with her daily. She greets me with overflowing joy, obeys me faithfully, and is the first to offer comfort when I am down. She senses my emotions so well, in fact, that my children call her the “Mom-emote-o-meter.” What a blessing this little friend has been this year, with two of my children away at school!
I am grateful my children chose expensive colleges! If they would have chosen more frugally, I would not have to work. But then I would have missed working at the best job in the whole world. It’s a job I would volunteer to do without pay under different circumstances, and since every cent I earn ends up in the bursars’ offices of various schools, that’s a good thing.
Finally, I am grateful my husband can’t cook. When it’s his night to fix dinner, well, it’s never his night to fix dinner. That leaves us with only one other option: eating out. I love eating out! No need for my husband to learn any new tricks in the kitchen. I am just as happy to put a little more into the local economy without any kitchen clean-up.
How about you? Are there any pet peeves that are actually just blessings in disguise for you?
I am thankful for my husband’s job. He has strange hours (he’s military) and while it’s annoying to work 6pm-6am, I am thankful I get to spend some extra time alone with my daughter when her brothers go to sleep. <3
Amanda
http://myfourlittles.com
Hi Amanda,
I am thankful for your husband and the sacrifices that he makes along with the ones your family makes. Very thankful! Please pass that along to him.
Our thanksgiving was a month ago here in Canada but I try to be thankful on a regular basis. We have SO much to be grateful for and I want to make sure we don’t take anything for granted!
Ann,
Wonderful post. Family is treasured here also. IW has the best writers and articles all year long. Not to forget, we have a pie gal here too! Happy Thansgiving and hope all of you enjoy your day with friends and family. Now if pie would just ship her deserts to all of us, since this is my first year in many years I am not cooking. Our loved ones are spending the day with Mickey, which we are thrilled for all of them. 🙂
Great post….it’s hard to see the positive in every seemingly negative situation, but there is generally always something there, if not now….later on. Thank you for the positive and honest post. Loved it.
Great piece, Ann. It’s a reminder to me that so much of life is perspective. I’m grateful to be so busy at work because even though it panics me slightly, it means I have opportunities to grow and try new things, and that I have something of value to offer. 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful post, I am thankful for my husband and children..
Thank you for the nice thoughts, everyone. Jennie, being busy at work IS a good thing, especially now. It seems as soon as one unemployed friend finds work, another loses his job and goes to the top of my prayer list.
Many thanks to the servicemen and women who train and fight for us. The same to all the first responders, the police, firefighters, EMTs, and medical professionals who save lives everyday.
Snickers, Happy Thanksgiving to you! Guess what? I still have swiss chard growing in my little garden, and I hope to cook it into the stuffing I am making for our “leftovers” on Thursday night. Enjoy your quiet meal while your loved ones race around Wally World.
I have to say my dogs would be on my Pet Peeves list turned Blessings in Disguise. Each one of them (four total over the past 20 years) were rescue dogs, three basically just showing up at our door. It was with great hesitation I took each one in for all the reasons that most people would think twice. But it was the best thing we ever did. They gave us so much more than we ever had to give them.
The last one we adopted last Feb from a pet adoption going on at Petco. All they had were small dogs and we have only had dogs that were 80 lbs or so. And up until that point we had only had girls. My husband really wanted him and I was so hesitant. I have never really warmed up to small 10 lb dogs.
Oh my was I wrong. I just love this little guy so much. He has such a big personality and has become my dog, no doubt about it. And it is so much fun to watch the interaction between him and our 80 lb girl. He is the boss of her ( and of us). Just love him.
Ann,
Swiss chard! How wonderful for you. Happy Thanksgiving.
Cooking small this year, but will be having some frozen sweet corn for sure, and maybe soup with the other frozen goodies from the garden. The best part of the vacation is the e-mails and pics we are getting from the little guy. He is a hoot!
I had to think about this for a little bit, but I found that I do have quite a few blessings in disguise. Here is one.
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I’m thankful for the rude, inconsiderate and hostile people that I run across too frequently in life (both real and online!). They show me who I don’t want to be. They remind me to try and keep my own attitude in check.
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Especially online, haters show me that just because an unkind thought comes into my head, I don’t have to share it with the world. In fact, it’s usually better that I don’t.
What a delightful read first thing this morning. Awww, Ann, can you imagine life w/o your four-legged gal? Where would the two of you be w/o each other?
It’s too early to think of irritants. But, I have much to be grateful for. Anya, you’re such a sweetheart using rude people as a reminder for kindness instead joining the group.
Snickers, enjoy those pics and emails of the little guy. What a fun Thanksgiving.
Nice & thought provoking piece.A tradition at our Thanksgiving celebration is for each person to proclaim what they are most thankful for.Lists are in the making by our girls & they are even making thankful lists for the 22 mo old boys. So naturally I’m thankful for these amazing children God helped me to bring into this world and I thank Him for the loan of them also.I’m equally thankful that He deemed Puffman & I worthy. Parents, friends, neighbors, homes, love, kindness,etc., etc. thankfulness goes without saying but these precious babies O! What a joyful blessing.
Great post!
Great post as usual. Something that really turned out as a blessing in disquise happened just recently. My son and his girlfriend recently bought a house. I have had a hard time getting close to her, it seems like she was keeping her distance. A few weeks ago they had a problem with their house that resulted in quite a bit of damage and I went over to try to help. She sent me the sweetest thank you for helping and since than I feel like we hvae crossed that line into a much closer relationship. So while I am sorry for what happened to their house I am grateful that it brought us all closer. Happy Thanksgiving to all the wonderful people at IW !
My daughter’s constant “momma, momma, momma” I’m grateful she is happy and healthy and loves me so much that she wants my constant attention.
What a fantastic story. You just made me smile. You are truly a grateful person. it is nice to be reminded there are people still out there who care about things.
have a wonderful Thanksgiving. You deserve the best ever!
Great post, Ann. I am thankful for the life that I have. Great husband, great kids, great family. I’m thankful that both my husband and I have great jobs and that our kids and family are healthy. I’m also thankful for the friendship of a handful of ladies that I’ve met through IW and blogging. I do heart you guys… and you know who you are. 🙂
Isn’t it amazing how blessings can be found when you least expect it! I am Thankful my husband got laid off because he just got hired with a much better company for higher pay! Every cloud has a silver lining!
Although it was a Pet Peeve of mine at the time many moons ago, I am so thankful that my parent’s were the type of parents they were.
This is a great post. I have been blogging all month long about the things I am thankful for and some are so small you wouldn’t think about them but I have so much to be thankful for I wanted to share it with others. I loved reading this post. I loved what you said about your kid’s college. I wrote today about being thankful for school but they are only in Pre-K and Kindergarten. A long way from college. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Have a safe and happy holiday
It looks like many people found IW this Thanksgiving. It has been fun hearing from everyone.
Pam, I agree, my parents were not my friends, if you know what I mean. 🙂 Very blessed here also.
Have a great Thanksgiving where ever you are!
I am thankful for my s/o even though he annoys the hell out of me 70% of the time and sometimes hurts my feelings, I don’t know what me or my kids would do without him. He is a great father.
Enjoyed reading this yesterday morning and wanted to start off this Thanksgiving day by reading it again.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
So who’s ready to shop??? 🙂
Snickers. I can’t even move.
Pam,
I had the skinny diet today, but will make up for it in the next fews weeks coming up. 🙂 I did some on-line shopping, the sales were better than what the ads had posted.
No shopping for me. Best of luck to those who braved it last night and today.
I have not even started Christmas shopping yet. But this is no different than any other year.
I love reading what your blessings are ladies. I had to laugh at the in-law ones, because we have all been there!
Anya, we like to call those rude people “saintmakers” around here. They do remind one to shine her halo, don’t they?
So happy to hear Alaina, about your husband finding a better job. It’s happened before around here- with my husband and a friend’s son. It’s scary, but it all works out for the best.
I love this post Ann!
It is rather amazing how something that seems not so good at first can turn out to be OH SO great! 🙂