A Day in the Life - Getting There

So how does a young, beautiful, hip, married couple with a darling dog and no children celebrate Thanksgiving?  I don't know!  But I can't wait to tell you about how my sweetie and I celebrated this year.  I'm pretty sure we've established a new tradition and you get to come along for the recap of its inaugural year.  I know, you can hardly contain your excitement - right?!

First, let's dispel a myth that I have encountered many times in my life.  Despite popular belief - people without children are not able to pick up and go at the drop of a hat - we plan and prepare just like the rest of the world.  Here's a glimpse at what it took to get us to the start of our celebration.

October
Back in October we decided that this year we were going to celebrate Thanksgiving alone - together!  The first order of business was to make sure we could both take the Friday after Thanksgiving off from work.  The stars aligned and before Chris could change his mind I booked a room at our favorite hotel and made reservations for the dog to stay at the kennel pet resort he frequents when we travel.  Then we broke the news to his family - we would not be celebrating with them this year.  Let's just say they weren't as excited about our plan as we were.

T-minus 3 days
We worked really hard during the days leading up to Thanksgiving.  We put in long days at work (so as not to regret taking Friday off) and then we doubled up on errands and household chores in the evening - accomplishing a week's worth of work in three days.  Note that this hurried pace of life required us to stop working out and eat like crap. 

Thanksgiving Eve - AM
On the morning of Thanksgiving Eve we dropped off our little black angel at the pet resort.  This was a heart-wrenching activity though it was made easier by the need to get to work and the long list of to dos that remained for the day as well as the knowledge that we could watch him via web-cam during our time apart.

Thanksgiving Eve - PM
A slightly late start, a few last errands and holiday traffic extended our evening commute time getting us home with about 15 minutes to spare before I needed to leave for a volunteering gig at church.  While I was at church my sweetie finished his packing and the last few household chores.  When I returned I finished packing, we loaded up the car and - at long last - made our way to the beautiful hotel in the big city where we would be staying for the next 4 days.  When we arrived the Valet parked our car, we checked-in, unpacked, took a deep breath and collapsed into bed - exhausted, but certain that this was going to be a very memorable Thanksgiving.


Are you having fun yet?!  I can't tell you how relived I was to finally be at the hotel.  Stay tuned to find out what we did on Thanksgiving and the days that followed - fun stuff!

Thankful Thursday

I'm hiding away ALL weekend in a lovely little wonderland filled with friends, food, and all the "me" time I could possibly desire.  Three full days of bliss...  Tonight, I am thoroughly enjoying the company of two very dear friends and tomorrow six more will arrive!  I seriously think my heart just might BURST with JOY!

So what am I thankful for today?

• A weekend with friends - old and new
• Freshly brewed coffee
• God's mercy - new every morning
• WiFi - even when I'm hiding away
• Other people's iPod playlists

So much to be thankful for - and honestly, so much I still choose to complain about.  While the blessings in my life are truely abundant I still often struggle to keep them at the forefront of my thoughts.  While intellectually I know that I am blessed beyond measure my humanity still desires to dwell on the less pleasant aspects of my life - aspects that some would likely consider blessings in themselves.  It's a vicious circle fueled by the enemy and all the more reason to spend time focused on all that I've been given and all that I have to give.

Be thankful...

Guess who's (not) coming to dinner?

I am all about family.  Chris and I spend more time with each other than most couples we know and together we spend more time with our families than most families we know.  We talk with our family members several times a week.  We email, Facebook and read our family member's blogs.  We have planned weekly gatherings with each of our families and we often get together at other times during the week for various reasons (bible study, football games, church, meals, etc).  This is all with what I consider our "immediate" family - our parents, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews. 

In addition, we get together frequently with our "extended" family - grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  Most of these gatherings center around the youngest generation's birthdays but we also get together for tea, holidays, the occasional "cousin's day out" and a family picnic here and there.  Did I mention that my sister and my aunt are my very best friends?  They are.  I'd rather be with them than just about anyone (nieces and nephews excluded).  I really can't think of a better way to spend my time than with my family - sometimes we even vacation together.  Have I made my point clear?  I'm a family girl who is soooooo blessed to be part of a family family!

I paint this picture, not for you to judge or compare to your own situation, but to help you understand the significance of what I'm about to tell you.  This is not coming from someone who loathes her family or wishes to escape from them.  Get ready for this...



Chris and I are celebrating Thanksgiving by ourselves this year!


Can you believe it?!  We've talked about this before but it always ends up falling through for one reason or another.  Not this year - this year the reservations are made, the dog has an appointment at the pet resort and we've already broken the news to our dear family that WE won't be coming to Thanksgiving dinner!  In fact, we will be staying downtown for the entire extended weekend.  I can't tell you how exciting this is for us.  We plan to set the tone for the this holiday season in a relaxing, peaceful, atmosphere - celebrating with gratitude all we've been given and all that we have to give.  And we have some fun up our sleeves as well - more on that in a future post.

I am mostly excited about this adventure but a part of me feels like this is a terribly selfish act and I suppose in a way it is.  But we're OK with that.  Because while we will miss spending time with our families, while I will miss making homemade cranberries, while we will miss watching our baby niece and nephew experience this holiday - we also know that the following week we will be back to talking, emailing, gathering and celebrating with them all.

Thankful Thursday - Photo Edition

It's only been a couple of days since my last post but I'm happy to report I've stayed true to my plan and have spent a little bit of time each day reflecting on what I'm thankful for.  So far - so good.  Today I thought I'd shake things up a bit and share some pictures of what I'm thankful for.  I know - it's hard to contain your excitement - so I'll get right to it.

Mmmmm - S'mores



My feet actually get happy when I put these on.



Summers at the lake - and jelly beans in ice cream cones



My rides

Facebook, blogs, email, Netflix, iTunes - need I say more?

30 Days of Thanksgiving

Photo Credit

One of my life ambitions is to dwell in a constant state of gratitude.  My ambition is unlikely to be achieved on this side of Heaven but I know that the mere act of trying will result in good.  I realize that choosing to focus on fostering gratitude in my life during the month of November is a bit cliche.  Oh well!  I encourage you to embrace the cliche with me this month and spend a few moments each day reflecting on that for which you are thankful and filling your heart with gratitude.  I will be recording my thoughts in a written journal throughout the month but I plan to check in here on occasion to share my gratitude with you and maybe inspire you to share yours as well. 

5 Things I'm Thankful For Today:

1. My loving husband
2. Our Little Black Angel
3. Jimmie, Nathan, David, Wyatt, Anaka & Paige
4. Good health
5. Spell Check*

*Funny note - when I ran the spelling checker on this post I found that EVERY instance of the word "gratitude" was misspelled.  At least I'm consistent!