I am Thankful for a...

Month of Thanksgiving posts.  It has made me be very aware every day of the things I am thankful for.  I have found myself pondering all of the amazing gifts I have been given throughout my life.  I have been filled with a love and deeper understanding of the amazing people I have been blessed with both as family and friends.  I have also been blessed with a deeper knowledge and understanding of the special opportunities placed before me.  I am so blessed and I need to be grateful more than just once a month.

I am Thankful for Holiday Movies and Specials

This is the season when we watch some of my favorite movies.  We always watch "Holiday Inn" on Thanksgiving.  I have been reluctant to get too gung ho about the Season yet because Clyde tires of it quickly.  So when he is not home I watch movies like "Christmas in Connecticut" and the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  I will officially get the movies out that I own on Heidi's birthday.  That is the beginning of the Season in our house and always has been.  With access to Amazon Prime this year, I have had fun watching holiday movies that I wouldn't get to see otherwise.

My most favorite move is a Christmas movie, The Bishop's Wife with Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven.  A lot of people do not like this movie because they say the ending doesn't make sense.  I think it makes perfect sense and for some reason, though I have loved other movies, this one has always been my favorite.

What is your favorite holiday movie or Christmas Special?

I am Thankful for Caspian Luke Bahlmann

Today is Luke Bahlmann's 5th birthday.  Luke is an amazing young man that can figure things out a lot of adults cannot do.  For his sister, Mallory's birthday, we sent her the Fisher Price Princess Singing Castle.  I told her parents that if they never put batteries in it, it would never sing.  Guess who figured out where the batteries went and put some in?  Now it sings nonstop!  He is sweet, mischievous and loving.  I am so grateful the Luke is a part of our family.  Happy Birthday young man.  We love you very much.

I am Thankful for the Seasons of the Year

Granted I am more thankful for some than others.  I was talking to a young man the other day and he wondered how I could love somewhere like Texas that didn't have snow for Christmas.  We haven't had snow for Christmas in Rhode Island for 4 years.  It really doesn't start snowing until January.  I told him that I have been bone chilling cold in Texas just the same as I have been here.  There was another young man from Dallas and he chimed in about 'Blue Northers' and the Canadian Express that only the Plains States know about.  That cold wind comes down from Canada and literally freezes everything in its path causing ice storms and power outages in the central Plains states.  Those storms are treacherous and have caused deaths because they are often unexpected and people are just  not prepared for the bitter temperatures.  Crops are lost and they cost megabucks.  So even in the south - there is winter.  I joked that last winter, Kerrville, Texas got more snow than we did here in New England.  We had 1 snowfall in late October and then freezing rain for the rest of the winter.  Very little snow.  Kerrville had 2 snow storms and more days out of school than our students did!  Our districts plan for it - theirs school districts don't.

I have concluded that my favorite seasons are spring and summer but I am most partial to spring.  I love watching the world come alive again after the long dark winter months.  It is so beautiful here in New England when it just bursts with color.  I think that forsythias grow wild here because they seem to be everywhere.  You know it is spring when the the bright yellow of the forsythia bush is everywhere you look.

People flock to New England for the autumn colors but that is iffy at best.  I have lived here 9 autumns now and seen 2 that were beautiful.  Granted the last two were blown away by hurricanes but even then the colors were not setting like they had 3 years ago.  The first year I was here was the most glorious one I had ever seen and even people that had lived here their whole lives said that autumns was one of the best they had ever seen.

Fortunately during these dark days of winter - we have Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward too.  Unfortunately that still leaves the hardest days of winter yet to get through.

I am Thankful for Music

I love music.  I love to sing, listen to music - in fact without music, my life would not be what it is.  Music calms me, lifts me and basically makes my life better.  I love classical music, old rock and roll, country - in fact I can listen to any kind of music but Jazz.  For some reason Jazz just irritates me.  Most others I can at least tolerate. 

During the holiday season, I love Christmas music.  I usually have one Christmas Carol that grabs me and seems more powerful than others that season.  For some reason Faith Hill's, "A Baby Changes Everything" is that song this season.  Maybe because each baby that has come into my life has changed it so much but as we come into the Christmas Season, we need to really think how much our lives have been changed by Jesus Christ. 

I love listening to old rock and roll because it takes me back to my youth.  That inevitably reminds me of some pretty fun times with my brother and sister.

Classical music reminds me of my father.  He taught me to love it in the first place.  There are certain pieces in particular that I hear that transport me to places where I first heard the music played, sitting by my father in our living room or concert hall.  I guess that is why music is so important to me - it reminds me of my family.

I am Thankful for Talents

Today Clyde and I sang in a quartet for Sacrament meeting.  I taught my Home Study Seminary students this morning and I also made my ham and bean soup for the military and put on their lunch as usual.  These are three of my talents that I use almost weekly.  I have others and I am grateful for the many talents I have been blessed with. 

I am Thankful for Life

I am grateful for my life and the lives of so many others.  The examples of family and friends have helped me throughout my life.  Life is one of the greatest gifts we have been given.  We need to make the most of it.

We attended a funeral for a brother in our ward yesterday.  Ron had some difficulties in this life but he always had a smile, a hug and a kind word.  What more could you want from a friend?  He did everything he was asked to do, with the seriousness and the responsibility that was due to the calling and office.  I have thought of the hole that his death is going to leave in my life.  Because of health issues, he has not been in Church for a couple of months.  I have missed him.  I wish I had been better about visiting him in the hospital.  Now I won't be able to see that contagious smile again in this life.  But, I know he is happy and all of the hard work that he did to remember and retain things in this life - will now pay off in the next.