optimistic pessimist: "What are you thankful for, Thomas?" "For the leaves!...because they're so fuzzy!"

Happy [very late] Thanksgiving, y'all!

Thanksgiving break was a whirlwind of friends, family, thankfulness, traveling, hiking, laughing, eating, and even a little reading. My family and I spent Thanksgiving day enjoying endless delicious food and sharing reasons for being thankful (and watching tv) with some very dear friends. Then on Friday morning, we headed up to Kentucky to have some Thanksgiving with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. We stuffed ourselves again with turkey, greenbeans, pies, and all of that goodness. And then once more the next day.

Besides eating, the most exciting thing was an intense hiking adventure up in the woods on my grandfather's property. My parents, siblings, an aunt, some cousins, and I made our way up the almost-completely-vertical mountain, using trees and branches to pull ourselves up. When we finally reached the top, we stopped for a while at "Chimney Rock," the tall rock formation that (you guessed it) looks kind of like a chimney from a distance. It was a pretty warm day, but my dad couldn't help but make a fire underneath the rock. Too bad we didn't have marshmallows...

But the journey back down was the real adventure. My dad took us down a different side of the mountain because he thought it was "easier"... which meant that we ended up sliding the whole steep, muddy, tree-less way down. And we landed in a creek in the valley at the bottom. The stuff of memories? Yeah, I'd say so.

{Here's where I get to ramble about thankfulness}

Thanksgiving came and went in a fleeting, happy moment-- just like it does every year. But I'm more determined than ever to keep a thankful attitude on the other 364 days a year, not just on the one day that we are expected to be thankful. In our fast-paced society, it's so easy to focus on all the things that seem wrong or imperfect with our lives, and take for granted all of our many, many blessings. I'm ashamed to say it, but I find myself way too often thinking "I'll thank God later. But right now, there are too many things I need to ask God to help, fix, and get for me." Maybe you hear this all the time, or maybe you need to be reminded of it, but every single thing that is good is a gift from God, and we need to thank him for it!

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." -James 1:17

If you have a couple minutes, please watch this video. It's really amazing.

(If you don't understand it the first time, you might need to watch it again)