Thanksgiving and Advent

I can't believe the long weekend is already coming to an end. I could use another several days off. Thankfully, the end of the semester is nearing and then I'll have a few weeks off.

Thanksgiving was nice this year for a change. The last two years have been really hard emotionally. This year we had 5 of my students over to join us for their 1st ever American Thanksgiving. We prepared turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, and corn casserole with pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. They had fun trying out a lot of the foods for the first time, and we had fun having people to prepare food for. We both remarked that this year we really had things under control as we had a lot of time to relax in between our food preparations.

We enjoyed a nice, relaxed Thanksgiving. Some things that I'm thankful for this year are:

my faith

my husband

my job

supportive Christian friends and family

the beautiful scenery where we live

new life

And now today Advent started already at church. It's hard to believe Christmas is just 4 weeks away. I love the season of Advent though with the decorations at church, the time of preparation and reflection for Christmas, Advent devotions, the music, etc.