I would have to say that as far back as I can recall, which ain't so far these days, I have thought of Thanksgiving as my most favorite holiday. For those of you that know me, know that I came from a dysfunctional home, but with all of the hurt that I lived in I can never recall an unhappy Thanksgiving. It was the one time of the year that we came together as a family, laughed and seemingly enjoying each others company. Even when we couldn't afford a big Thanksgiving Turkey mom would find the biggest hen she could find and prepare it with all the fixings around it. It was the one time of year to forget your troubles and count your blessings. Often times we would be invited to share in someone else's Thanksgiving meal, which just meant mom trying to out cook Emma, which as far as I was concerned, there was never any doubt who was the better cook. The more the merrier and that's why for as long as Shelley and I have been married we have looked for other families and friends, usually friend close enough to be considered family, to join us on this occasion.
I love Thanksgiving not for just the 3 F's (food, family, and football) but I love it because it gives me a time to reflect on just how blessed I have been and are today. The blessings that come to mind first is the love and forgiveness of my Savior Jesus Christ, without Him I would be nothing. I am blessed to have a loving and forgiving wife for 34 years. I am blessed to have three amazing sons who have and continue to make me proud of the young men they have become. I am blessed with three beautiful daughter-in-laws who have given my six beautiful grandchildren. I am blessed to have a momma who still calls me her baby, two beautiful sisters (who helped raise me), and two brothers who taught me how to be a respectable man. I am blessed to have a mother-in-law and father-in-law who love and loved me and show me by trusting me to care for their daughter. I am thankful for my closest friends, the ones who's daughters call me Daddy Dale and the friends I know I can count on when to pray me and my family through hard times. Finally, I am thankful for the men and women who have served and continue to serve this great country of ours in the Armed Forces.
I hope you will read this and come away with one thing and that is; we are all blessed and if for just one we all need to count or blessings and give thanks to the One who provided for those blessings.
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3 comments:
What a touching post, Dale!
I feel the same way about Christmas. It was the one time of the year when the tension in our home relaxed, and for a few weeks, we almost felt like a normal family. Of course, by the time I was teenager, the tension between my parents had gotten so thick that even Christmas became a strain.
I'm glad things have worked out better for you.
You ARE blessed, Dale.
Becky, Christmas has always been tough on me for some reason. Even today, if it weren't for the grandchildren I would just a soon skip it. Don't really know why but I just seem to go into a funk, I think it's the commercialism of the whole thing today.
Lou, I am blessed there is no doubt there.
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