Thanksgiving

I am very excited for Thanksgiving!  All my memories of Thanksgivings have been fun as I've celebrated with family and friends at home and far away from home.

All the Thanksgivings growing up with the Clarks set the standard for what Thanksgiving should be: family gathered together with good food, lots of pie, playing games, and doing crafts.

In college, I got to experience Thanksgivings with extended family.  While it was a little different from my Thanksgivings growing up, it was still the same holiday with good food and family.

On my mission, I thought it would be hard to celebrate the holidays away from family, but we were welcomed into our dear friends' homes.  The food might have been better (because any meal someone feeds you as a missionary is good), and there may have been more gratitude in the air as I spent days sharing the Gospel with those who didn't have the blessings of it in their life.

Last year marked the beginning of all my future Thanksgivings.  Dad invited Ben over to run the Scoresby Scamper (conveniently held over Thanksgiving).  It was then that I think we both realized that we were pretty serious about each other.  For our official first Thanksgiving we are visiting Grandma.  Next year, we'll be grateful that law school is almost over.  And in years to come, we'll have children and start incorporating our own traditions into the Thanksgiving season.

I'm grateful for this time of year and the time we have to reflect on the things that are the most important to us.