True Gratitude

Make this Thanksgiving truly one of gratitude for your family. My children are older and not around for this holiday. Grace will be in California with a lovely family who has adopted her during these college years when she can’t make it home. I can be assured she will have a beautiful dinner and family time with them. I am thankful for that and happy she has a go-to-family.

Paige is in Chicago, and with her busy schedule, I am sure she will stay there and cook with her boyfriend.

I am going to share some of the ways we celebrated throughout the years. One year, I had the girls meet our guests at the door with a hat — everyone had to pick a name of another guest from that hat. Our dinners always begin with a prayer about being thankful for the gathering and blessing the food. Once the prayer was done, we went around the table and everyone said something about the person whose name they picked, something kind or something funny or an attribute they liked about that person.

One of my other favorites is one to start on the first Thanksgiving you host, but it’s never too late to start. Get a Sharpie and have everyone sign the table cloth. Every year, bring out the same cloth. It’s great to look back and also commemorate any guests no longer with you.

(My advice: Don’t scratch out the names of those no longer part of the family. They are still part of the story.)

It’s also a good conversation starter and a chance for the younger people to learn about their ancestors. Then there’s the joy off all of the new additions, babies, spouses, in-laws and people who are “just like family.”

This is the month to vow to be more grateful and mindful of all the good in your life. We have so much hate being spread in the world.

Practicing gratitude in your own life will make you healthier and those around you happier. Don’t just be thankful on this holiday — make a daily choice to express your gratitude, even if it’s just looking in the mirror in the morning and saying, “I’m so grateful for no new wrinkles.”