Gratitude at Thanksgiving

I know I am behind. Tis the season, right? Also, I have been working really hard at trying to feel gratitude for my life and what I have and lately some days have been easier than others. Then as we were setting up Christmas, I found this written by my grandfather Thanksgiving of 1968. I thought it appropriate to share.

GRATITUDE AT THANKSGIVING

By Lee Franklin Gledhill

Gratitude is the name for a feeling or an emotion. If a person is filled with gratitude, the implication is that he has received something of worth; something that has been proffered voluntarily and has been proffered beyond obligation. 

In this month of all months we speak of gratitude and somehow feel that by speaking the word, expressing the feeling, we have discharged a responsibility and brought into balance our debt for all that has been gathered unto us.

We might enumerate in the following manner the gifts we have received:

We have Life because parents sacrificed, suffered, surmounted problems.

We have Salvation because there was One who was the Light of the World and others followed the Light.

We have Plenty because men tilled the soil; because others risked their security, and because still others have erected machine and edifices.

We have Homes because of the tenderness of mother's love, the fierceness of father's efforts, the cooperation in human aspirations.

We have Learning because there was faith and dissatisfaction and longing.

These thing we have and with then, hopefully, Gratitude.  These gifts, received with gratitude, give joy to the present and great promise of fulfillment in the lives of our children and grandchildren. 

But gratitude is more than just enumeration.

If a person has true gratitude, he is placed in a very special position in relation to the donor.  He obligates himself to give thanks to his God and to those of his fellow men who thrust the gifts upon him. He pledges to hold closely the gifts, nurture them, polish them brightly, and share them with those along the way. 

But most of all he dedicates himself not to the enjoyment of the gifts, but to the assurance that the gifts will always be available to his fellow man tomorrow and in the calendar pages yet unturned. 

Thank you Grandpa for taking the time to share your thoughts so that we may enjoy them and learn from them all these years later. 

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. My mom's side of the family has gotten to the point where its too hard to meet in one home or even find a time on Thanksgiving Day when all of us can get together. So we dinner the Saturday before. I love it. So many people, most of us are grown and of marrying aging (although some not married) and plenty of kids. If you don't keep track of the kids, they really sneak up on you. Most of the family showed and the food was delicious.

On Thanksgiving, we had 2 meals; one with Jake's family and then my sister decided to try cooking her first turkey (I haven't even done that.) The meals were spread apart just perfectly that if you eat good portions you weren't too full.

Jake's family is an extended family meal so there were a lot of people there. The kids had a blast playing with cousins and second cousins and of course the adults ignored them as much as possible so that they could have fun and we could relax and talk. Isn't that what family is all about?

After all that and a few other activities, we drove down to my sister's place for dinner. Her future in-laws we there as well a some extra family; Grandma Bonnie and our cousin on my dad's side. After eating, the kids made a "spook alley" for a bit and then had a dance party. It was quite funny.

A few days after, Ellie was talking about all the food and Thanksgiving meals we ate. She informed me that if we ate 20 Thanksgiving dinners we would have to go to the doctor's and he would have to get a long stick to take out some of the food so our belly's wouldn't be so big. Ha ha. I love kids.