Giving Thanks and Black Friday

As the Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close, I'm pondering gratitude and how easy it is to forget what we have to be thankful for on a daily basis. I'm going to try harder to remember how much I have to be grateful for and what really matters each day.

A day never passes when I don't stop and think how grateful I am for my daughter. If it doesn't occur to me at least five times during the day, I'm always reminded at bedtime when she's cuddled up next to me as she struggles to go to sleep. It's also when I get to catch up on kisses and hold tights.

So, while I am constrained financially this year and sometimes lament that I can't join the shopping frenzy and partake of the huge discounts, on another level, I'm glad to actually have to refrain. It's not that I haven't bought anything, it's that I have had to think before I spent the money. My shopping has been focused on my daughter which actually is more satisfying.

I realize there are so many things I already have that I don't use regularly or fully enjoy. So my goal for the upcoming year (I'm getting a head start.) is to truly be grateful for what I have, to make use what I have and really appreciate all the great stuff that is already a part of my life. I think I am going to start by reading all the books I've bought and have been dying to get to.

Most importantly, I am going to remember the best stuff in life doesn't come in shopping bags.

Hmm, I just thought of how grateful I am that I wasn't out in a store on Black Friday. The photos above are pictures I took of store shelves the day after.