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Happy Thanksgiving! How cool is it that we have a national holiday to give thanks and to be with family and friends? As we were driving to Don and Suzettes for feasting yesterday, it was fun to see all the other cars full of smiling people on their way to dinner, yards full of football players having annual turkey bowls, gas station parking lots full of people getting forgotten items for their menu because the grocery store was closed...oh it was just perfect. 

Andrea and I were the last ones to arrive because the 40 rolls I made (for just the 10 of us) took longer to rise than I thought, and when we walked into the kitchen I slid a pan of rolls onto an already-loaded table, looked around at everyone chatting and laughing and thought, "you just can't put a price on this." There is nothing like being surrounded by happy people and sitting down for a good meal together, in a home where people love and care about each other, which the Harreld home certainly is. We have lots of loved ones elsewhere who we didn't get to see yesterday, but I'm pretty sure we were all together in spirit, full of warm fuzzies and feeling truly grateful for all the things that matter most.

 And here they are : family and friends - the "things" that matter most:

Chair appetizers - yum.

Riley steals some focus again.

Sisters, sisters never were there such devoted sisters la la la scoobadeedee.

Baby begger/sometimes bully.

Sometimes your feet get hot and you are too tired to take off your shoes. And if Karen's nice enough to do it for you, maybe she wants to give up her coke as well? If Karen were Grandpa, it would have worked; luckily she's not.

It isn't a party till Don gives in and plays us the Thanksgiving Polka!

Not pictured: you-tube watching, football, jumping around, wood working (Don and Dave fixed our chairs so now you don't have to feel bad if you come for dinner and your chair collapses under you) and lots and lots of pie.

About six thirty we headed home. Riley had fought her nap earlier with every fiber of her being so by then she was literally begging to go to bed. The kids were sound asleep by the time we got home and after we tucked them in I got to go see a movie with Ander, Em and Chris while Dave stayed home watching snowboarding videos. His season starts on Saturday and if the time he has spent on waxing his snowboard and fixing his bindings is any indications, he is pretty darn excited!

We saw the final Twilight movie and it was pretty entertaining. We had a little obnoxious commentary from time to time, but I think that actually improved it. Like the bedroom scene got dialog from "Elf" ("Tickle fight!" You maybe had to be there.) We had a good time, but my goodness - not as much as the elderly missionary couple from Em and Chris's ward that we ran into on our way out! I've never seen a full-grown man, at least 60 years old, so excited about, well...anything. He thought the story line was the best ever and that the acting was just gripping and "did you notice all that gospel symbolism - it was almost a spiritual experience!" (guess he knows the writer was Mormon). Holy cow! He might be one of the most awesome older guys I've ever met. His wife, Guadalupe, looked about 25 years his junior. But don't worry - golddiggers don't usually go for missionaries, right?

Anyways...add exuberant strangers to your list of things to be thankful for. Also on the list: turkey and stuffing, autmnal bouquets, cinnamon, health, laugh lines, fire places, shelter from the cold, sweaters, boots, handy-man husbands, attractive husbands, transportation, freezer food, disposable diapers, new glasses, day dreams about the future, the Christmas Carol (yes, it is time). And YOU - if you are reading this chances are we know you and like you a lot.

It's a ponderous list! This time of year is a good time to reset priorities, take things less for granted. To help me with this goal I turned to a talk given by my bff Elder Wirthlin. Not that he knows me, plus he is in heaven, but the dear man's words always inspire me and I am a pretty big fan. The talk I'm referring to is "Living in Thanksgiving Daily" and you won't find better advice on learning to live gratefully not just at Thanksgiving but all the time. Of course, you maybe can't read it now because you read THIS novel, but you should definitely add it to your holiday reading list.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Heidi