Here we are, the week after Thanksgiving, and I still find myself in the attitude of giving thanks.
Honestly, I think that’s how it should be. We can all benefit from an attitude of gratitude.
If we’re doing it right, gratitude is something that can stay in our minds and hearts long after Thanksgiving day has passed.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
I know I’ve said before how much I love Thanksgiving, but it really is a day I look forward to every year.
I am grateful for the opportunity to cook with my family and spend precious time together.
To be completely honest, I am not someone who likes to cook. I do it because I have six children, and going out to dinner costs a fortune.
But there’s just something about Thanksgiving that makes me want to put on an apron and create something both beautiful and delicious.
It’s more about creating memories than cooking.
Cooking becomes something special when we are all in the kitchen together, making family recipes and enjoying one another’s company.
It becomes family time, where deeper connections and lasting memories are made.
When I’m cooking for Thanksgiving, it’s more about the feeling that goes into it than anything else.
It’s about spending the morning with my kids cooking recipes that we have cooked for years and enjoying every minute of our time together.
When I normally cook, the focus is just getting food on the table because our lives are so busy, and we need nourishment.
But Thanksgiving isn’t about that at all.
Thanksgiving is about treasuring the moments.
One of the best things about Thanksgiving is not just about savoring the food but savoring the moments you have with the ones you love.
It’s about being thankful for the people around you and for all the good things you have in your life.
It’s about inviting people into your home so that you can share that gratitude with them and help them feel they are an important part of your life.
This year, we had 25 people in our home for Thanksgiving, and I loved the memories we made together.
Yes, I cooked for three days, and the cleanup took another day after Thanksgiving, but I really enjoyed every minute of it.
Okay, I may not have enjoyed the cleaning up after part, but every part leading up to that was fantastic.
There were so many moments made that I will treasure for many years to come.
Thanksgiving is about togetherness.
For me, one of the best things about Thanksgiving is when I see how my kids participate as they get older.
When there were dishes in the sink, Ari was cleaning them. When there were tables that needed to be carried, Noah was carrying them.
The girls love to cook, so they were helping me in the kitchen while Rob was in charge of smoking a turkey because (lucky for me) he also loves to cook.
Everyone was carrying a part of the load, and it was fantastic.
Thanksgiving is one of those magical times when everyone comes together to get things done, and I never have to ask for help.
Everyone just jumps in right in the moment to help with whatever needs to be done.
It really is special to me because this rarely happens on typical ordinary days.
Most days, if I need something done, I have to ask like sixteen times before I get a response. But on Thanksgiving, they just jump in.
Maybe it’s because they know how much I love Thanksgiving. It might be because they love it, too. Or maybe it’s because they enjoy having people over to celebrate this season of gratitude with us.
Whatever the reason is, Thanksgiving becomes UnOrdinary and even Extraordinary because of all the precious moments that make up the day.
Thanksgiving is about giving thanks.
When I talk about Thanksgiving, I am talking less about the holiday and more about the day itself.
I know the origins of Thanksgiving can sometimes be a controversial thing.
For me, Thanksgiving is a day to reflect on the things that we have and to be grateful for the life we’ve been given.
It’s about being grateful for our family and friends and inviting them into our home to share a meal of thanks with us.
This is what we focus on at Thanksgiving, and the people that we invite into our home to celebrate with us feel the exact same way.
It’s about coming together in an attitude of gratitude.
There is just under a year left before I get to experience Thanksgiving again.
There is a part of me that is a little sad about that.
But we don’t need to wait a whole year to be grateful and thankful for the life we have and the people around us.
I may have to wait an entire year before I enjoy cooking again.
But until then, I am grateful every day for my family, my friends, and my life.
Thanksgiving is just a reminder to me that we need to be thinking about gratitude all year long.
Make every day a day of thanks and giving.
I truly believe that in a world that is becoming more and more challenging in so many ways, we need more Thanksgiving moments.
Thankfully, there is actually a way that we can experience more of those Thanksgiving moments all year long.
One of the best ways we can do this is by making every day a day of giving thanks.
I know that for some of you, your days are harder than anything I could ever imagine. But I promise that keeping an attitude of gratitude will work wonders for your mindset.
Focusing on gratitude creates a space for your mind to go where you are more able to see the good—even in life’s challenges.
Whatever we’re going through, no matter how difficult things are, there’s always something to be grateful for.
And if we treated every day like a day of thanksgiving, we would be better able to get through the hard things.
Just closing our eyes for a moment and feeling gratitude for the things we are thankful for can provide us with a moment of solitude.
In that solitary moment of gratitude, the cares of the world will fall away and leave us with greater peace.
Start by giving thanks to others.
Another way we can make every day a day of thanksgiving is by giving our thanks to others.
Part of making the world a better place is leaving the people in the world better than we found them.
We can do this by valuing connection, prioritizing giving, and sharing our gratitude with the people we meet each day.
The world needs goodness. And there is no better way to spread goodness than to genuinely thank the people around us.
Showing gratitude makes you happy as well as the person you share it with. It’s really a win-win for everyone.
My challenge to you is to make each day a day of thanksgiving.
Take the time to experience moments of gratitude for yourself. Then, create those precious moments of gratitude for others by giving them your thanks.
We can have that Thanksgiving feeling all year round as we intentionally make each day a day of thanks and giving.
