What are you thankful for? Family, friends, health, and happiness? November brings a time of yearly reflection and an overall appreciation for all we have. Each year, gathering around the turkey dinner, surrounded by your closest family and friends to give thanks has become one of the most traditional holidays of the year. In our family, before the turkey is carved and the dressing is served, we spend a moment of prayer and pause to go around the room and share a few things we are most thankful for. Aside from the normal appreciation of health and love, these past eight Thanksgivings, I have been grateful to be a mom. While celebrating the closing of another year together, I reflect on how blessed I am to have a beautiful family that includes four great kids. Countless milestones and achievements, continued health, and all the fun family outings that are marked by laughter and hugs, makes me thankful that they call me mom.
When planning for our first child, the question of how we would transition from a married couple to parents brought the decision of whether or not to be working parents or for one of us to be a stay-at-home parent. In weighing our options, many things were to be considered. The process of looking at our family’s future involved listing all the pros and cons to determine the right path for us to take. Some of the conversations we had are similar to the points discussed in our feature article this month. Christie Johnson’s article, Can You Afford to Stay at Home?, focuses on the financial and emotional issues that need to be analyzed if this is your desire. She suggests working out a family budget that includes basic needs and finding areas that could be cut. For example, adjusting the monthly spending by couponing and limiting luxury items, like entertainment, is helpful. However, it may not be so cut and dried as to either work or stay home. With today’s technology, there are more families choosing a combination of stay-at-home parenting and also working from home. In our situation, this option has worked out beautifully and it may be an option for your family as well. No matter whether you work outside the home, work part-time in the home, or are a full-time stay at home mom, ‘giving’ our kids plenty of quality time and lots of love is a common goal we all share!
Let’s not forget the ‘giving’ part of Thanksgiving! This holiday season would not be complete without giving back to others in our community. In thinking about all that I have been given in this life, helping those in need and those less fortunate makes the year’s end more complete. Our community is built on being charitable and reaching out to its neighbors. Sharing our resources and talents is what makes a town a community. In the article, Recycle Thanksgiving, Julie Steed suggests that when preparing our own Thanksgiving dinner, we should clear out the pantry and give so that others can be blessed, too. Whether donating a couple of cans of food to our local food bank, buying a small toy to drop off at Toys for Tots or just sharing some of your time with an elderly lady who may otherwise be alone this season, these are all small gestures of giving that have a lasting impact on others. These selfless gesture are the heartbeat of our community.
With family and friends gathered around this year’s Thanksgiving table, take a moment to reflect. Find the gifts you have been blessed with, appreciate those around you and reach out to others. Before the Thanksgiving feast, feed your soul. Define this Thanksgiving by its true meaning…be thankful and give!
Kendra
