It's all about the pumpkin pie . . . and giving thanks

If you are like me you don't have to think very long to come up with an impressive list of things you are thankful for.  Family, great friends, good health, etc.

I also don't have to look far to see things I'm thankful for.  For instance, every time I look at my kitchen windowsill I see this:

At a glance I see salt & pepper shakers and glass birds.  So what, right?  But it's not the things I'm thankful for (although they are stinkin' cute!!) it's the memories behind the things that makes them so special.

The salt & pepper shakers sat on my Grandpa Olaf's stove in his cute little green house on Trott Avenue.  Not a big deal at the time; I'm sure there were many times I just walked right by without really looking at them.  But they were there, and I remember them being there, and looking at them now brings me right back to his little kitchen with the trap door down to the basement.  And I can hear my mom playing piano and my Papa Olaf playing the violin; I could hear them even if I took the super steep steps up to the attic where we were allowed to write on the walls.  And we did.  Cousins from Texas and Colorado would leave messages for us and each other.  There was a box of crayons up there and we spent lots of time writing to each other.  What a special memory for all of us.

The little glass birds were perched on the window sill by the table in Nana & Papa's kitchen.  We sat at that table having coffee and visiting or maybe doing a craft project if the men were busy out in the barn.  The birds were always there, right along with the smell of coffee and a wonderful, hot meal cooking in the oven.  The birds were there when my brothers and I spent the night; right there while Nana made us chocolate malts - one for me and two for the boys if they wanted another one (I was never offered seconds).  The birds were there when I heard Nana & Papa's radio come on in their bedroom early each morning; WCCO's farm report was my clue that they were awake and I would go and crawl in bed with them and feel pretty darn special.

So as you celebrate Thanksgiving, hopefully with family or really good friends, it's ok to be thankful for the things in your life, because chances are it's not the things at all, but the memories those things hold.

Happy Thanksgiving.

May your day be filled with good people, good food and good memories.  I know that mine will.