Thanksgiving

Typically Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday. It's not that I hate this holiday & I do have a lot to be thankful for but if you make a list of favorite holidays something has to be last and this is it for me. There are several factors that bump it to the bottom of the list; it marks the impending craziness that is the holiday season, we have Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family the first weekend in November & since my Dad usually goes to his house in Eastern Washington it usually leaves me to fend for myself, and I don't really like Thanksgiving food (except rolls, mashed potatoes & salad). I do however love that from year to year I get to pick something new to do for Thanksgiving which means that I not only get invited into the families of my friends but I also get introduced into a wide variety of traditions.

Here are some of my favorites that I've been privy to along the way:

• Sticky buns ready & waiting when you wake up Thanksgiving morning.
• Going for a walk in the brisk morning & stopping to get a warm beverage.
• Watching & commentating on the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.
• Alternative Thanksgiving food.
• Watching a movie after "dinner".

This year I'm going to Kristen's house where she keeps warning me that the environment is competitive & sarcastic. I'm warming up my quick comebacks.

There are a lot of things that I'm thankful for this year but here are my top 10 (in no particular order), this is something my family does:

1. God provided the money for school for the rest of my time at Fuller, 3 more years.

2. Amazing friends who have been to me & let me be to them, true community.

3. Laughter

4. The new living situation, including but not limited to my new roommate Adriene.

5. Rhys, the wonder dog who cracks me up & loves me well.

6. The resilency of my family, you can beat us down but you won't break us up.

7. Musicals

8. That God pursues.

9. Outside perspective.

10. The beauty of fall.