Giving Thanks

We're all here cozily under the same roof, temperature carefully regulated by our new thermostat timer, boys asleep in the attic bedroom on new flannel sheets from the LL Bean factory store (needed because the heat takes a long time to travel up there), girl stirring at the smell of cinnamon rolls in the oven, dogs covered with snow after a visit to the backyard, cats pheromonally peaceful.

Soon a pumpkin pie will go into the oven. Ah, the fragrances of Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for this family.

I'm thankful for the chance to be with Pure Luck's relatives today, especially his beloved aunt, dear reminder of his late mother.

I'm thankful to have a good enough relationship with The Father of My Children that later this afternoon we will join that side of the family for dessert. The house will be full of cousins and dog cousins and pies and good feeling. (Also an Apocalypse Chocolate Cake.)

I'm thankful for a marriage that has space for all these connections.

I'm thankful for my web of friends, for new connections and old.

I'm thankful for work that has meaning at the deepest levels despite the occasional surface irritations.

I'm thankful that the Advent wreath is already on the altar at church, so I won't need to go in on Saturday or send someone frantically out for candles Sunday morning.

I'm thankful for a husband and son who played chauffeur when I was dizzy yesterday and still had three appointments and grocery shopping to do.

I'm thankful for dinner last night, the five of us around the dining room table, dogs near at foot.

I'm thankful especially for a husband who, although he does not share my particular faith, strives to express his appreciation for the gift of this life. Here is the blessing he wrote and shared over our Thanksgiving Eve tortellini:

Blessed are the fires of the sun which give their
light and warmth freely to the Earth.
Blessed is the Earth which upholds sea and soil, the
wellsprings of abundance.
Blessed are the falling rains which quench the thirsty
fields and renew the sea.
Blessed are the farmers and the fishermen who toil so
that we here might share the bounty of our world.
Blessed are we to receive these gifts born of sun,
soil, water and labor.
We honor them by striving to be as they are:
To be as the sun, bringing light to the darkness and
heat to the shivvering.
To be as the rains, quenching that which is parched
and barren.
To be as the soil, nurturing of life.
To be as the farmers and the fishermen, working to
share the wealth of the Earth with all who dwell here.

Amen.

Thanks be to God!

Comments

[Kathy]

What a beautiful blessing! Thank you for allowing me into the web circle here. Have a wonderful day with your family and friends. And may God continue to shower you with gifts and the ability to appreciate them.

[Quotidian Grace]

A beautiful blessing, indeed. Thanks for sharing it and have a great day with all the family.

[Running2Ks]

Amen to all of that. What a wonderful list of thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Angry Pregnant Lawyer]

Lovely post. Happy Thanksgiving.

[Kathryn]

Reading about your gratitude warms my heart and prompts me to ponder all of my own blessings. Pure Luck's blessing captures the essence of Thanksgiving. Thank you for sharing your life with us.

[Lorna]

ditto
thank you for sharing your life with us. I'm richer for it songbird

:)

[Emily]

Amen indeed. Lovely prayer.

[Pilgrim/Heretic]

I'm grateful for all my bloggy friends too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[jo(e)]

Beautiful. I just wrote a post about the things I was thankful for, and came over to see that you had done the same thing. Once again, we are on the same wavelength.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[peripateticpolarbear]

(o)