Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was pretty good; we went to the condo that Steve's aunt Carol rented in Ashland NH for a delectible Thanksgiving feast and pies. The drive wasn't bad - only about an hour and a half - and we got home around 9:00ish. His whole family was there (as usual) and the day ended with the traditional game of Euchre between Steve/his cousin Greg and my mother-in-law/Greg's wife Marilyn. Here are pictures of Steve (being a dork) playing cards and a terrible picture of me (no, I wasn't drunk) with my sister-in-law:





The rest of the weekend has been pretty good. Friday our friend Derek came over and I was able to get some "me time" crocheting while Derek and Steve played LOTS of video games. Steve was so excited to be able to do that, and I was quite content crocheting. Yesterday Steve had to work so I got to work around here. The results? We're all decorated for Christmas now (more details Tuesday!), so it's just putting the presents under the tree. Last year, our landlord said he'd take our tree to the dump for us and it ended up outside until just about MAY - so this year we opted away from the real tree for one year and got a lil' tree that sits on a table. I'm so excited for Christmas this year - my friend Doug says that it's because it's our first married Christmas and I think he's right. Steve and I both have a good amount of Christmas spirit this year - and, I'm hosting my first Christmas dinner with my in-laws this year, so that's exciting too.

Every year I usually post an exhaustive list ON Thanksgiving of what I'm thankful for, but because I'm late this year I'll keep it abbreviated. Here goes... I'm thankful for:

- My renewed faith. It's a great feeling to have it after being so critical for so long.
- My desire to improve my health.
- My family - both in Tennessee and everyone here in New England. The ones in Tennessee are my roots (even though they uprooted... go figure) and my family here is just wonderful.
- My friends - both new and old. While my new friends that I've made in the last year have been a real source of growth and fun (and I am truly appreciative of the friends I've made and become close to since last Thanksgiving), there's also a great comfort in the familiarity and closeness of old friends too. I'm especially thankful for Kristin and Laura B. whose continued friendship over the years had really made me feel like I have two extra sisters.
- My husband. This one I could really exhaust and get mushy with, but I promised I wouldn't be long. So I'll just say that I'm so glad that we found each other five years ago. Right about now is the time when our closeness started five years ago (before we were "officially" dating) and I am so thankful that God brought us together. With Steve, as much as we joke about it I really feel like we ARE "Team Athanas" and would feel incredibly disconnected and lost without him in my life. I'm greatly looking forward to the years we have together as husband and wife; there's no one I'd rather go through the ups and downs of life with.

What are you thankful for this year? Leave a comment!