What are your plans for Thanksgiving?
Will you have the big traditional meal with all the trimmings, and eat until you can be tipped over and rolled out the door like a barrel?
Do you have a large family and invite everyone, whether you get along or not?
Or is your family small? You cook enough to feed the neighbourhood and have leftovers all week long?
Will you invite friends over who have no family here?
And what are you thankful for? Health, wealth and happiness?
Do you dislike turkey like my husband and have ham or roast beef? Sorry dear, we are having a turkey.
What is Thanksgiving about anyways and how did this all start?
The first harvest meal began in 1621 when the pilgrims, who founded the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, sat for a three-day meal with the Wampanoags.
In Canada, our official Thanksgiving started on Nov. 11, 1879, but our Indigenous friends celebrated the fall harvest supper long before we did.
When we were younger, we had a huge family gathering on this day. Siblings, spouses and kids were loaded in the car and off to our parents' house we would go.
Now our family is small, and it is important to me to have these family gatherings to make memories as we do not have family in the area.
Our parents are no longer with us, and I miss my mom, but the memories she made with us will last a lifetime.
I try as a parent to make these memories with our family, so they too will last a long time.
This year our household will be a little different. Instead of just a few of us, we will have a house full of adults and kids, which is exciting to me. It helps that I love to cook.
Wealth is always good, if we are talking in money. We need some of this to pay our bills.
But what is wealth if you do not have the people you care about around you? Wealth means nothing if you are alone or lonely. Wealth comes from what you have in your heart and share with others. This truly makes you wealthy.
Health is important and I am thankful for getting up each morning and feeling both my feet, as at one time I could not walk, so this is the greatest blessing.
I have MS and not being in a wheelchair is something I am grateful for.
We need to greet each day with purpose and a positive attitude, as there is always something to be thankful for, even if it is a small item.
Most of us have had some kind of hardship, whether it be sickness, the loss of a job or the passing of a loved one. At times it may seem there is nothing to be thankful for in the moment, but if we dig deep, we will find it.
I have seen hard times with my kids, with work and with family, but in the end, we have each other to make memories.
I have a husband that works hard and never puts himself first. I am truly thankful for him getting rid of the huge spider in my shed and not chasing me with it.
We need to be grateful more often, see the good and be happy for the small things in life.
We need to stress less over the little things. If your house isn’t clean for the family, so what, they came to visit you and not for your mess.
By the way, closets are great for getting rid of stuff that no one will see. Close the doors of the rooms that are a mess, so really only the kitchen, bathroom and living room need a facelift.
This Thanksgiving dig deep inside and be happy for things you have and the people in your life, because before you know it, this will all be memories.
