While this is the month I start to get ready for Christmas, I try very hard not to look past November and to focus on what it represents.

It’s a bleak month at first glance.  The brilliant Autumn leaves have  turned brown, the trees rattle with the few stalwart leaves upon the bare branches.  And the wind never seems to end.

But, I love Thanksgiving and celebrating the harvest.  I love taking stock of my blessings.  I love making Thanksgiving dinner, which we often host at our home.  I love watching my husband make the turkey, stuffing and gravy.  I love watching him teach my son to cook and see my son’s fascination, curiosity and disgust at the raw turkey with it’s giblets and neck (me too, Ben, the disgusted part anyway.)

I love making pies with my daughters.  I love to bake the pie crust scraps on a cookie sheet with cinnamon and sugar sprinkles for my children, just like my mom did when I was a girl.  I love setting the long table with my favorite dishes and the smells of the day.  I love having family gather round.

I remember being enthralled with the tales of the Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving.  But now I know the realities of that time were much harsher and more difficult than childhood stories could ever betray.   Yet, despite having suffered disease, the death of loved ones and enduring great struggle, the Pilgrims saw fit to celebrate their blessings.

Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving an official American holiday in 1863 during the darkest days of the American Civil War.  And for me the message is clear: it is when we are struggling, when we are in the darkest times, that gratitude is not only possible, but becomes most important.

It is with a heart full of gratitude that I start this month of Thanksgiving.

The month will be filled with projects… making gifts, cards and getting ready for the holidays.  The rest of this week, I will be sharing ideas for handmade gifts that will help me start checking projects off my gift list.  For me, making gifts for loved ones is an act of thanksgiving.

You give but little when you give of your possessions.  It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.  ~Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

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