Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we are celebrating with Seth's family. Every year since we have been married I have cooked the whole Thanksgiving meal but for some reason this year, I just couldn't get up the motivation. So, we invited ourselves to NY to spend time with family. (Don't you love in-laws like that?)

Over the last few weeks/months, I have been thinking a lot about gratitude and living out of a spirit of contentment. It's so easy to fall into a place where desires slowly (or quickly in some cases) become "needs". It's so easy to blame consumerism, Black Friday and the retailers that entice us with their wares, but those things only play into the deeper issues that take up residence in our hearts. Please don't get me wrong, giving gifts is wonderful and I think when it is done well is an incredible blessing. But why do we buy? Is it because of how it makes us feel? What it says about us or our ability to buy? Is it just because we can't help ourselves?
I am as vulnerable as the next person. I see commercials for an ipad or a new car and for a split second, I can't help but picture myself and how fun it would be to have more. I look at the ads for clothing and think how much better I would feel about myself if I dressed like that. But those desires only speak to my insecurities and don't add any value to my life. I read this quote recently and it has been in my mind quite a bit over the last several days.


"We don't need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it."

Wow, training myself to not want something can be as fulfilling as not possessing it? I'm not sure this applies to everything, but I think replacing the object of my desire with something more fulfilling certainly increases my contentment with what I already have.

So as an act of discipline, I am making an effort to make the holidays about something else. I read a blog recently where the blogger said she is striving to "Do Less, Be More" and make the holidays about presence over presents. I like that idea. It's something I want to start as a tradition in our family.
So as a first stab at this, we delivered meals to elderly people on Wednesday. It didn't take much time and I would love to have done something more but it was a good start. I also want to make it a goal to do acts of service like this all through the year, not just during the holidays.
I have to admit, we had so much fun delivering the meals. We took our niece and nephew with us along with Little E. They had so much fun carrying the meals to the front doors and we delivered 15 meals. It was a small gesture but many of the people were so happy to see little ones delivering their dinner that day. I loved seeing my 3 year old giving of herself, even if she didn't know it.

So as we now officially enter the Christmas season, I am thinking about joy and what it means to rejoice. To me, living a life of gratitude is at the heart of joy.

"Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion."-Benjamin Franklin


Happy Thanksgiving!