Week 48: Ah, Thanksgiving...a time when we count our blessings instead of calories as we give ourselves permission to overindulge. Our Thanksgiving was lovely, and I hope yours was as well.

This week I'm celebrating all the traditions that go along with the holidays as my blessing for the week. Thanksgiving is just the start of numerous rituals we go through year after year, and life would seem out of balance if we omitted them.

What are some of your family traditions? Is your house like ours where the table is set with "special" dishes, both in terms of foods served only at the holidays as well as the china on which it is served? Often both have ties to past generations that bring us a source of comfort preparing or using them. Of maybe you and a group of friends or family rise early on the day after Thanksgiving to hit the big sales and get a jump on shopping? The bargains are wonderful but the time shared with special people is even more precious. Perhaps you drag out the boxes and decorate the tree on the weekend after Thanksgiving. The Christmas season can't officially begin until the house is decorated...or can it?

Traditions like these and others bring us a deep sense of stability and security, and they're often steeped with memories of years past. It's a blessing to relive those times as we repeat the same traditions again and again as doing so brings us a sense of comfort and reassurance. Consider these traditions and the role they play in your holidays to see if they need to be recorded in your gratitude project.

As always, my page is in the gallery and there's more on this idea on my blog.




Week 47: My blessing this week centers on our recent trip to Central Florida and the opportunity to witness the launch of the space shuttle. It was an amazing sight but what I'm really grateful for is what being there meant to Wayne. It's been on of the things in his "bucket list" for a very long time.

Do you have a bucket list? Maybe you'd like to ride a train to Alaska or cruise the Mediterranean, taking in awe-inspiring scenery with someone else in charge of the logistics. Or perhaps you'd like to see a Broadway play or attend a concert by your favorite musical group, singing along to some of your favorite melodies in the process. And maybe your wish centers on someone else...seeing a spouse accomplish goals important to them or a child find happiness in life choices they've made. Think of the last time you said "someday I'm going to..." and you got one of the things on your bucket list.

Whether it's a documented list of things to see, do and experience before you die or just some wistful thoughts that come to mind now and then, bucket lists serve a valuable purpose in life and achieving them does even more for our overall happiness and sense of accomplishment. My prompt to you this week is to examine your bucket list in terms of gratitude. Have you succeeded in checking one off recently that should be recorded as a blessing? Even if the answer is no, just having such a list and documenting what you are doing to achieve the things on it is something to be grateful for.

My page is in the gallery and there's more on the subject on my blog.




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