Truly Thankful ...

This Thanksgiving was a fun time of getting away and being with family. We gathered at my son's on Wednesday evening and headed back home on Friday evening. In between we enjoyed some things for which I am truly thankful. My wife and I went about 45 minutes past my son's to see my youngest daughter and son-in-law's to see them and our youngest grandchild for about an hour. You see they were going to his parent's for Thanksgiving so we decided we would catch an hour with them before they took off. Our grandson is crawling all over the place, pulling himself up on stuff and jabbering a lot.

When we got to my son and daughter-in-law's it was raining hard so I got soaked carrying everything inside. My grandson Zee (not his name, just a letter) greeted me and asked if I had my wallet. I told him I did at which point he went to his room and came back with his wallet and wanted to compare cash. I think he may have had more.

We got everything inside and then settled into spending time together. There was our son, daughter-in-law, our oldest daughter, and 4 grandkids. The kids showed us a few things and then my son and I headed off to a high school basketball with grandson Emm (who truth be told just went for the popcorn). We went to the game because it is Indiana and high school basketball in Indiana is awesome. I miss it. It was not a great game, but it was still great to experience.

Over the next couple of days we played several games, Rook, Hearts, Xbox, War and a lot of 4 square. My grandsons made the 4 square very interesting. Whoever made it to the serving square got to announce the rules by which we would play. I nearly always said "normal". But Bee and Zee had a long list of things allowed and not allowed. Such as twisters, bus stops, tiny tims, chicken feet, cherry bombs, black magic, double hits and around the worlds, just to name a few. We laughed a lot and discussed the various interpretations of the rules. A good time was had by all.

I made my mom's famous "butterhorn rolls", my wife even took a picture of the finished product and sent it to our youngest daughter who was at her in-laws where they had no butterhorn rolls. Our daughter was not amused, but we were. My daughter-in-law, daughter and wife worked hard on the rest of the meal and we enjoyed a delicious and large spread of food.

We played more games that night and the next day right up until we left. I was truly thankful for the opportunity to see all of our children and grandchildren (I count my daughter and son-in-law as our children). To see that all of them are doing well, that they love the Lord and are serving Him was especially encouraging. To play games is a necessity if you are around our family. To laugh is a requirement that is done in abundance whenever we all get together.

I am truly thankful for my family, for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for health, laughter, for friends and even for the opportunity to share all of that with you on this blog.

Here's hoping that I will be truly thankful each day. But there does seem to be something about a big meal that brings out the thankfulness in me.