All the things I am thankful for!

My lovely grandma

   Monday is Thanksgiving in Canada, a day for being thankful for all the things that we have. In today's culture being thankful is often overlooked. Ads on television and on the radio and in magazines focus on all the things that "everyone" still "doesn't have" or what they are lacking. "Get a big screen TV, because your neighbor has one", "drive a better car", "your house is too small", "last year phone model is outdated", "you must have the new game system to keep up with the Joneses" are some of the messages that everyone hears. It's hard to hear all those messages and still think that what you have is plenty good. Of course all those messages are not really meant to make you unhappy, they are just meant to make you go out and buy more things, be it new shoes or vacation time-shares.

   My grandma was born in Poland before WWII broke out. She, like many people in her generation, lived through really hard times. They lived through many hardships and often had to be more concerned with how to obtain the bare minimums needed for survival than having new TV or their house being too small. The benefit of that was that they learned to make do with what they had. If things got broken they didn't throw them out, they fixed it, If things got stained they were not replaced with brand new items but rather treated with stain remover and washed.


  A lot of people of that generation still live in a very frugal way. They also poses know how to fix things that we deem "unfixable". My grandma was a frugal cook. She could make 3 meals out of one chicken, preserve foods in the summer for use in the winter, and she never let any food go to waste. Other grandparents are very good at finding use for old things. Some others know how to bargain and get great deals. Some other yet have not bought new appliance for 30 years, having repaired the broken ones. All of them are a perfect example of people who don't feel like they need more than what they have because they are truly thankful for what they have.

   So this Thanksgiving I am taking a page out of the "older" generation's book and I am going to be thankful for all the things that I do have (as opposed to being upset because of all the things I am still lacking). So here is a short list of the most important things that I am thankful for, not just this Thanksgiving but every day of the year.

I am thankful for my husband and kids

• 1. I am thankful for my husband and kids. I know that I am very blessed to be in a loving relationship with a man who really loves me, and we are very lucky to have 3 healthy, growing kids with a fourth one to join us any day. 

• 2. I am thankful for our families. I find us very lucky to have people around us that care for us and support us. I am especially thankful for my sister and Daddy's parents who are very important in our lives and lives of our kids.

• 3. I am thankful for our health. There are so many people that are suffering illnesses and diseases that prevent them from enjoying their life. I am grateful that we get to live our life without pain and suffering.

• 4. I am thankful for my life. Whether you believe that you were created by God, or that you are just a product of your parents' cells, you should be thankful for the most precious gift that you have received, the gift of life. I am very glad that I was born and get to enjoy living my life.

• 5. I am thankful for living in a country where my rights and freedoms are protected. There are too many people in the world that don't have their freedoms protected, or who are prosecuted for anything from religion to lifestyle. I am thankful that I can be who I want to be openly.

• 6. I am thankful for the gift of choice. I can chose who I wanted to marry, I can choose what I want to wear, I have a choice in how many children I will have, I can choose what I want to eat, where I want to live, if I want to work or stay home with my kids, if I want to send my kids to school or teach them myself. I have the power to choose, and I am thankful for that. 

I am thankful for family

• 7. I am thankful for my friends. Friends are the family we get to choose for ourselves. I am thankful for their support and their listening ears. I am most thankful for their friendship.

• 8. I am thankful for food on the table. Too many people go hungry in the world, but we have the ability to feed our family. I am very thankful for that.

• 9. I am thankful for our house. A warm place to get sheltered from the rain and wind is something to be thankful for. Our family makes our house a home which only means that I am double thankful for that. 

• 10. I am thankful for the gift of inspiration, imagination, and hope. Life is much more exciting with imagining all that could be. It is also much more fulfilling with being inspired by others and inspiring others. And life will never be full of despair (even in the hardest of times) where there is hope. 

What are you thankful for?

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