For Love of Orange Blog: Thanksgiving...

As I finish making Thanksgiving shirts (just in the nick of time) for Aiden and Abby to wear to school tomorrow (at 1am), it reminds me how busy "we" (as a society) are. Constantly rushing, hurrying to finish all those "last minute" things. Now, I have to get their Christmas shirts started. I hope I don't wait until the day before to do those. ;-)

That aside, this is my favorite time of year. I enjoy all my fall decorations (well, they're orange, duh!), it's football time in TN! (Go VOLS!), its getting cooler, which means hoodies and bonfires. It also means yummy hot chocolate. But most importantly it's the time of year that makes me take a step back and say aahhh and just relax. I will (if my husband is up to it) most likely put up my Christmas decorations this weekend. There is just something so calming/relaxing about staring at my Christmas tree with all the sentimental ornaments (past/present) and the beautiful/twinkling/colored lights. I wish I could say the same about the shopping part, but no matter how much I plan. No matter how many lists I make, it gets stressful (maybe I can come up with a "to-do" chart to make it easier). But once I'm all done and I sit down to wrap all those fabulous gifts; in front of my tree, with the fire roaring, Christmas music (or movie) playing, hot chocolate sitting beside me, after the kids have gone to bed, I'm back to calm/relaxing. Then as I wrap them one by one, I get to think about all the wonderful people God has put in my life. But we can't get all wrapped up in the presents (ha ha) and forget the real reason for the season; and that is for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Meredith & I are trying to teach our children that this is a birthday celebration for Jesus. That the reason "they" get presents, is because the wise me brought so many presents to Jesus, that he shares them with all of us on his birthday. We let our Children believe in Santa Claus, but we tell them that Santa Claus delivers the presents for Jesus. I make a cake for Jesus and we sing Happy Birthday to him. We want our children to always remember that Christmas is not about the presents (although we all love getting presents), it's about the birth of Jesus Christ. And Thanksgiving is not about the food, it's about spending time with our families and counting all the wonderful blessings God has given us. Not that this is the only day we should do this, no. We should count our blessing daily. Thanksgiving is just a time that we can all gather together, as one big family (and we have one big family!) and celebrate all those blessings under one roof. I Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you take the time to count all your blessings!!