Thanksgiving

When a lot of people think of Thanksgiving, they think of turkey, stuffing themselves, getting together with family, etc. Do people really think about what they're thankful for? That's what I've tried to do this year, since I know I'm not always as grateful as I should be. Here are a few things that I'm grateful for:

My Family
This one seems kind of obvious, but what would I do without them? Living alone would depress me to no end. No siblings to fight with and occasionally have fun with, and no parents to get advice from. Mostly, they're the people that you can always count on to love you and be there for you. When everyone's together and just having a great time, it's a great feeling.

My Friends
This is another obvious one, but I absolutely love my friends. I have some of the best friends in the world. I can talk to them about anything, and I know that they'll always stick up for me. I know that they'll always be on my side. And when we laugh at each other, we're laughing together. Basically, I love my friends to death.

My Dog
Yes, I am really going to put him on my list. Even if he can be one of the meanest dogs I know, he's always excited to see me when I get home. He's cute, playful, and cuddly. I love him!

Music
Music is a big part of my life. I sing, play the piano, and listen to my iPod all the time. If I'm stressed, I cool off with music. When I sing, I'm just automatically happy.

I think the list of things I'm grateful for could just keep going. I'm sometimes grateful for school and teachers, I'm grateful for books, food (most importantly chocolate), and the fact that I get to live. As I go into the Christmas season, I want to make it more about giving to others. I don't want to act like it's all about me. I think that holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas were made for a reason, and sometimes things detract from that. When they started Christmas, it wasn't supposed to be about a fat old man in a red suit sliding down chimneys to bring presents. It was to celebrate something a lot more meaningful. Thanksgiving can be meaningful if we really use it as an opportunity to think about how much we have. In our world it seems like all people think about is what they want, and what they already have doesn't mean anything to them.

Don't get me wrong, I love presents, but I also want to get more personal things out of this season. When my youth group does service projects, I feel good because I know that I just did something to help someone else. Because of me, someone else can have a better holiday. I think food drives like what our school just did are great. People get food that they wouldn't have without our food drive. One year my family made scarves and hats to bring to a homeless shelter for people who didn't have things like that.

Anyways...... 25 days until Christmas!