Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving Day!  I've been looking forward to this day for a long time, mostly because I've desperately needed a break from school and have been anxious to spend some good quality time with my family.  However, the other wonderful thing I love about this time of year is the extra measure of gratitude that everyone expresses at this time of year.  I try to express my gratitude at all times of the year, but what better day than Thanksgiving to do so again?  Now, my list of all the things I'm grateful for could go one for pages and pages, so I'll just list the most important ones here:

• I'm grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, for the Atonement that He performed for everyone on this earth, and for His incredible love for me.


• I'm grateful for my family and for their love and support.  I'm grateful to be with them at this time: to chat with my mother, to be teased by my father, to banter with my brothers, to tease and tickle my sister, and to hold our little critters.  :)


• I'm grateful for my extended family and for the wonderful relationships I have with them.


• I'm grateful for my amazing friends, who have gotten me through some pretty rough times and given me some incredibly good times as well.


• In particular, I'm grateful for my roommates, both past and current roommates.  They have also helped me through difficult times and shared wonderful times with me as well.


• I'm grateful for music and for the incredible blessings it brings in my life.  I'm grateful for my ability to play and sing music and to be able to listen to it as well.


• I'm grateful that I have a home to go to, both with my family and in my college apartment, and that I always have enough to eat and a warm place to sleep.


• I'm grateful for my health and that I have the physical capacity to do all the things that I enjoy doing most: hiking, bicycling, playing sports, playing my instruments, wrestling with my siblings and cousins, swimming, and everything else I love to do.


• I'm grateful for the beauties of nature and the chance that I have to spend so much time enjoying those beauties when camping, hiking, or just taking a walk around my home.


• I'm grateful to be a part of the true and living Gospel which has been restored to the earth.  I'm grateful for the Restoration, the Book of Mormon, and living prophets who lead and guide the Church today.  I'm grateful for temples and for the work I can do for those who have gone before.


• I'm grateful for the Holy Ghost and the chance that I have to be guided by the Spirit in the important decisions I make in my life.

And the list could go on and on and on, right down to my gratitude for painkillers, toothbrushes, and toilet paper.  :)  And I guess the last one I'll add now is that I'm grateful for this holiday that we have today: a chance for each of us to show an extra measure of gratitude for all our many incredible blessings.