Let’s get businessy things out of the way first.

1. We all knew I was going to fail that September writing challenge. What was I thinking?! The leading up to the wedding push was insanely busy.
2. I’m working on a post with my thoughts on marriage thus far. I don’t know when it will come, but trust that it will. Spoiler alert: LOVING IT!

Business meeting adjourned.

For the last few years in some way or another, I’ve challenged myself to focus on things I’m thankful for during the month of November. I sort of decided not to do it this year, but today I changed my mind.

Why? 

Why did I do it to begin with?

November has been a harder month for me since I lost my dad (November 18th) and remembering that loss + the stress of what to do for holidays made November a little heavy at times.

Why did I decide not to this year?

This November doesn’t feel as heavy. I have a husband! And not just a husband, but a wonderful one with a wonderful family. Having him helps carry the weight of remembered loss and forever alleviates my sense of restlessness about the holidays. He’s my home now!

Why did I change my mind?

Well, three reasons.

1. It was silly to think I didn’t need to remember to be thankful! In good times and bad, thankfulness and gratitude are important. I’m still selfish and self-absorbed when I don’t focus my mind on Jesus. I NEED to remember ALL the many reasons – big, small, silly, and important – that I have to be grateful.

2. With so much negativity crowding the walls of social media, I’ve been enjoying the sparse posts intermingled of people stating what they are thankful for. I remember last year and the year before thinking it was cliche and there were so many. This year, sadly, it doesn’t seem as cliche and there aren’t as many declarations of thankfulness and I miss it! It makes the world a better place. I think we all need some thankfulness, gratitude, and positivity right now.

3. I like to celebrate things! We are in the midst of celebration season with celebration after celebration and I think thankfulness is just as important to celebrate as Christmas trees and parties. It’s a good think to celebrate to set our hearts and minds on what we are really celebrating once Christmas gets here, which is trees and parties at all. Jesus. He came to fulfil our hope. To be our hope forever. To be the King the reigns eternally.

So, I’m going to be thankful! I backtracked and to the best of my ability made thankful lists for all the days I missed. I’ll post from here on out on social media (and probably do a recap here). But, posting a list of 25 ish things on social media in one post seemed a bit excessively annoying.

1. free lunch (at Moe’s! download the app) / 11-1
2. good wholesome tv (This Is Us is killing it!) / 11-1
3. my friend Anna (who came over to watch This Is Us with me and we had good talks) / 11-1
4. a wonderful first night at my “new” church Traceridge / 11-2
5. choir music (I joined the choir!) / 11-2
6. life-saving Newk’s (I was super hangry and Newk’s saved the day) / 11-2
7. country drives (especially at sunset) / 11-3
8. William’s grandparents / 11-3
9. medicine / 11-3
10. date nights / 11-4
11. musical movies (loved Trolls!) / 11-4
12. a magical movie purse (capable of holding much candy and drinks and basically like Santa’s bag) / 11-4
13. free Mistletoe Marketplace tickest and getting to go with the best friends / 11-5
14. holiday coffee (Deep South Pop’s Pumpkinfest latte is legit) / 11-5
15. holiday smells (everything at Mistletoe smelled magical, somehow even the bathroom smelled like Christmas) / 11-5
16. veggie trays (Emily had a lovely spread at the craft fair she hosted at her house!) / 11-5
17. friend dinner and movie nights / 11-5
18. breakfast casseroles (there was a potluck breakfast at church, literally tried all the savory breakfast casseroles) / 11-6
19. chocolate milk / 11-6
20. harmonies (loved singing in the choir for the first time!) / 11-6
21. the Holy Spirit’s presence as we gather together (majorly felt Him on Sunday, and love knowing people are feeling His presence all over the world as they gather in traditional church building, YMCAs, movie theaters, school gyms, and more) / 11-6
22. family time (spent the day watching the guys put together a swingset for Evelyn, so fun!) / 11-6
23. daylight savings time (MOST RESTED MONDAY EVER) / 11-7
24. free McAlister’s (for a YEAR, well, ish, but we won a contest and are getting a pretty hefty giftcard) / 11-7
25. Christmas pjs and a husband who lets me order us matching ones (thanks Old Navy for having big sizes!) / 11-7
26. being able to laugh together at a terrible dinner / 11-7