Don’t Forget About Thanksgiving and Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card
November 7, 2007 by Julie Bonner
Filed under Freebies and Contests, General Play Library Goodies
I feel like more and more every year Thanksgiving gets forgotten about. I actually saw a Christmas commercial this year BEFORE Halloween! What in the world? Don’t get me wrong, Christmas is a very important holiday in my family and although we don’t celebrate it, we talk about Hanukkah every year also.
I just love what Thanksgiving is all about. My husband and I strive everyday to raise thankful kids. It’s a constant topic in our home and we are also planning ways to get our kids out in the community. We want them to roll up their sleeves and give something back.
So, I am on a quest to focus more on Thanksgiving this year. Would you like to help me?
To kick off November (a few days late albeit), I would like you to tell me one thing you are extrememly thankful for. My family and I will read all the entries and decide on a winner together. The contest will end on November 24th and the winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card.
Okay, so even though my comment doesn’t count, I’ll start things off:
I am thankful for a family who loves me for who I am.
Your turn now…
My children. I am thankful for the person my children have helped me become. Because of my children, my priorities are where they should be and I am a better mother, wife and part of humanity. My children have helped me grow up and step outside of myself. I am thankful for my beautiful children.
I know it is cliche but I am thankful that I have my son. My husband and I traveled across the world to find him and we love him “all the time, everyday”. People tell me all the time what a wonderful thing we did for him but it is what he did for us that is so amazing.
I grateful for my mother who taught me to believe that all people are valuable, that differences should be articulated and appreciated and that compromise is always possible.
Teaching thankfulness is wonderful. It teaches us to be content and happy, not matter our circumstances.
I am thankful for my family. Sure they get on my nerves sometimes, but they are great.
I am thankful that my blogging income will help to make Thanksgiving an enjoyable holiday for all of my guests. My blog only earns enough to buy a can of cranberry sauce but every little bit helps.
I am grateful for having loved and being loved. Having lost people sometimes you can think you never want to love again….but when you think about how wonderful those moments are when you look in their eyes, when you hug, when you laugh at those silly things…then I am grateful that I have loved. Now I turn that love to all of those around me, loss shows you that you should never take people for granted – and funnily enough I am grateful that I have learned that before it is too late with many of those around me. Maybe we need a new song…I’d like to teach the world to love…it might solve a few of our global problems!
I’m very thankful for a husband who supports my working from home doing something I love!
I think the thing I am most grateful for this year, is getting the chance to know my grandmother as a friend before she passed away last May. It gave me a chance to connect with her as adults, not just because “I had too”. Life is precious – it’s wonderful to share
I’m thankful for my life. I’m at a stage that I love, with healthy children, a great husband, and the time and ability to be at home, work, and even play some too.
I would have to say, above all the blessings that I do have that I am thankful for, I am thankful for Jesus Christ, Who stepped in to my life whenI was 22, pulled me up out of the grossest slime concoction you can imagine, cleaned me up to where people actually love & respect me (which always amazes me) and then allowed me to not only live in the house of my dreams, but to live there with the hottest man in the entire known universe…
Amen!
I’m thankful to God for bestowing his grace upon me and hubby by making us parents and for being there for us, when things were at their bleakest.
Well, of course I am SO thankful for all the ‘normal’ things that we always mention, like family and health and Jesus and my sweet hubby and son…but there are some not so normal things that I am thankful for too! For example, I am thankful for baby carriers (I LOVE LOVE LOVE to wear my son in these…and of course he loves it more than me I think!); I am thankful for shopping carts…(that way I don’t have to carry ALL the piles of groceries AND my son!); I am thankful for calculators (because I’m so bad at math it’s not even funny!); I am thankful for blogs (my only window to the outside world and my only connection with other mommies some days!); and one last one for now…I am thankful for meat (yes I am a meat eater to the FULL! A meal is not a meal without meat…)
Thanks for letting me share my thankfulness! 
i’m thankful for the gift of memory, which enables me to look into the eyes of my children and see their history, those who came before them. but i’m also thankful for the gift of their future, unwritten yet and wide open for the living… happy thanksgiving!
I am thankful to be in a place and time where I can fully be my Self. My kids and spouse encourage and stretch me to grow in such positive ways. I have an amazing community around me right now that encourages all that I am to flow back into the community.
As a Reading Specialist, I am daily thankful for the ability to read. I have always been a “bookworm” but for millions of Americans, learning to read is one of the hardest things that they will ever do, and many just give up. I am thankful for those who truly appreciate the importance of reading and give generously of their time to help others learn.
I am thankful for a very loving and supportive family!
I had one son, and we planned on one more child. I had twins. Its been really difficult and I often get frustrated and think how much easier my life would be and how much more freedom we would have if we had had one more baby. I love both my babies DEARLY but I have felt so isolated.
Then, I started reading blogs, and meeting other mothers of twins. And amazingly often, one of them has a handicap, one of them has severe medical problems, in one case, one even died a couple weeks after birth. And reading the stories of all these other mothers has really put my difficulties and lack of freedom (while they are small) in sharp perspective.
I am happy for the health of my children. I do not take it for granted anymore. I am so blessed.
I am so thankful for my little girl and my husband. She is a year old, and I’ve never been more humbled, more thankful, brought to my knees more times, and more joyful than this past year. My husband is an amazing partner and has so much love for his family. Sometimes I can’t believe how lucky I am. I love this contest, how wonderful to encourage others to think about how thankful they are.
I am extremely thankful for a Savior who loved me when I wasn’t loveable. HE gave me the choice to accept HIM into my life and I did.
I am also very thankful for my husband who is a good Godly man. I may not always be the help meet he deserves, but he is always there. Steady and true.
I am equally thankful for my children. Each one of them are unique in their own way. God blessed us with seven living children and one that is in Heaven with him.
I logged yoru contest as well: http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2007/11/wednesday-edition-of-contests-galore.html
Wow! These are great everyone. Keep ‘em coming! And also thanks for the link love.
wow there are to many important things. i am thankful for being able to have children. ( i was told at a young age i couldnot.) now i’m blessed with two and another due anyday. i am thankful for my husband coming home safe from iraq twice. and so much more
That my children are healthy. Now that I am pregnant again, it jsut reminds you how a healthy child is the most important thing in life.
I’m thankful for the hard work my daughter’s “care team” have put in for the last 6 mo – I’m starting to see some real progress! ( My DD has some pretty severe developmental problems.)
I am thankful for the gift of life – for every second I breathe I can breathe life into others through my words and deeds. Life is a miracle and being a miracle to others is what life truly is about.
i am thankfull that god has helped me find my way back to him and the church , and i am thankful for my husband who works like a dog so that i can stay at home and raise are kids, I am thankful to my mother who helped me became a solid person after much mayham in my life, I am thankful for my oldest son who although not planned for helped to redirect my life from going down a bad path.
amazing what you are thankful for when you don’t spend anytime to think about it… wow thank you if anything for giving me a time to stop and remember what i really and thankful for! I imagine i will continue this list off your comments
I am thankful for being pregnant right now. Had neurosurgery in January to remove a tumor and we were not sure if having another child would be in the cards!
Wow! I am fortunate to say it is very difficult for me to pick one thing I am most thankful for! Of course, my loving family is right up at the top. I have a roof over my head, food to eat, clothes to wear…..I truly am blessed. Thanks, Cindi
I was thinking just today how thankful I am to have not only my wonderful immediate family, and great extended family, but also the most amazing friends we have ever had, mostly who happen to be our church family members.
We have gone through a rough year where everything has gone wrong, and I do mean everything except health. But we are still in our home, we have electricity and heat and a vehicle to drive and appliances to replace the dying ones. Because our family/friends love us so much. Through prayers, gifts, and shoulders to cry on, we are making it with our sanity intact.
We couldn’t be more blessed.
I am thankful for my family. My big extended family. I couldn’t be more blessed. I’ve been going through a rough time this year (marriage breakup while pregnant and with a 1yo) and through it all I have always been able to count on my family. They have helped me financially, emotionally and physically. I couldn’t ask for a better family and there’s nothing else that even comes close to topping them.
I am thankful for the memories I have of my grandparents and for the fact that my daughter was born exactly 6 months before my grandmother passed away (who she was named after) so they got to spend that precious time together.
I’m thankful my husband. We were very naive when we married. No plan for the future, now financial sercurity. We were just plain crazy about each other and that has carried us through these last 8 years. We still have a ton of fun together in the simple ways we did back then.
I am thankful that we live a country where we are free to give thanks to God, without fear, for the many things that He has given us!
What a wonderful idea for a giveaway
I have so much to be thankful for, but I think the top of my list is that I am thankful for my home. It houses myself and my significant other and our cats, and has room for us to leave and eat good meals.
*sorry, LIVE and eat good meals! (and please disregard the double comment)
I was born on Thanksgiving, so I never forget it.
I am thankful that the best baby on the planet tosses her arm around my neck and falls asleep every night. There is no better feeling in the world!
I am thankful that my husband is home after being gone for more than three months (he is in the service.) I am thankful for all the men and women who serve our country for much, much longer and for their families who also make unimaginable sacrifices.
I love my kids very much and they are my life. I’m thankful for them. But I’m also thankful for my birthparent choosing to give me up when they couldn’t take care me so that I could have a wonderul life with parents who would never ever be able to have children!
My amazing fmaily…I don’t know what I would do without their support and love every day.
I am so thankful that my kids have each other. I am an only child and it makes my heart swell every time I see big sister and little brother looking at each other with such adoration and love…
I am so thankful for my family. I was told that I would not be able to have children and 15 months later I gave birth to my son. I also thought I would never find true love or get married, and I am now married to the most wonderful man in the world. I am thankful that I have them in my life, and that I can wake up each and every day and have my life filled with them.
I’m thankful that I’m God’s child, saved by His Grace and love for me, His daughter. Even though I am an imperfect person, He sees me as His forgiven child and my sins are white as snow.
I am thankful for my hubby who works very hard for us, for my 5 boys & that they are stong and helpful, for my 2 girls & that they are sweet and loving, for my youngest daughters safe delivery into this world this year, for my two loving parents and my step mom, for a wonderful church family, that my cousins baby is healthy after being born premature and staying in the NICU for 2 weeks. That GOd has blessed me richly and I am able to share that with others like the wounded soliders, or the pregnant wifes of our military or NICU babies or children in the hospital through the group I am involved in.
There is so much that I am thankful for this year. My husband that works so hard to make our lives easier, my healthy 10 month old son who fills my days with joy, and of course the rest of my family that I would be lost without.
I’m thankful for my good upbringing which keeps me grounded. I’m thankful for suncreen. I’m thankful for redemption and the capacity to change. I’m thankful for health in my children. I’m thankful for the desire for my husband and I to stay married – even when it sucks. I’m thankful for quitting smoking so I don’t have to hate myself anymore. I’m thankful for the Joneses whose lack of contentment allows me to buy lots of Christmas gifts really, really cheap. I’m thankful that my husband does dishes and wrestles with the kids. I’m thankful for being able to buy a house.
I am thankful to live in a day and age where the surgeons were able to repair my daughters heart so instead of dying before she was two, she should be able to live a normal, heart-healthy life…or at least as normal as her life could be with me as a mother.
These comments are blowing me away! You all are amazing.
My story is a bit long, but I don’t need even a moment to think of what I am most thankful for. I am thankful for the life of my little brother. My Mother nearly died when she gave birth to my brother John, who is now 28. I am 30, with 2 children of my own. My Mother and Father divorced when I was 2 and my Mother remarried years later. They wanted a child very badly. My Mother got pregnant and had a child with this man that lived 17 and a half hours, his name was Evan. They then had another child his name was George. This little boy, the miracle baby was so bright. He would tell the most amazing stories. The detail this little boy put into the smallest story was very impressive. I swear Im not just being a boastful sister. This lil guy was amazing at storytelling. He talked so fast too! When George was 6 he started having siezures. They gave him medication, it did not stop the siezures. He was having so many siezures it was causing him to lose brain mass and his brain was shrinking. The doctors told my Mother they would like to operate. Taking a portion of his brain tissue out and creating a valley so that the electric current of the siezure activity could not travel across the brain.
How nervous I was! I was terrified that the miracle brother I had was going to be taken from me after only knowing him a few short years. This little guy was so brave and did not complain, or cry or ask why. He just faced everything with prayer and with bravery. My Mother was incredible as well. The surgery went well and George was supposed to begin recovering and was not supposed to have any siezures after the operation.
However, George began rapidly declining after the surgery. 6 months after surgery he was in a wheelchair, and he spoke as if he was developmentally disabled. He was no longer the boy I once knew and it was heartbreaking. The doctors continued to try to medicate him with no progress. Finally after 2 years of fearful nights and George flown by flight for life to the Emergency the doctors told my Mother that George had a very very rare condition called Rasmussens Encephalitis and he would need to have half his brain removed.
I was not very hopeful. After repeatedly having doctors tell us that this medication would work, and that an operation would work, and watching George rapidly decline after surgery I was honestly terrified that George was going to die. The doctors prepared us for the possibilities.
To make a long story short, George had the hemispherectomy. Today he no longer needs a wheelchair. He is talking in full sentances and he is expected to have a normal life.
I am thankful that my brother is back. I am thankful that he will be able to run and play with other little children. That he will no longer sit motionless, and spiritless, crippled by siezures in a wheelchair.
I am thankful to have a house to live in, food to eat, full use of my body and senses, and my dog.
I am thankful for my health, my loving, supportive husband and a baby on the way.