Thanksgiving Week!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow!  I have been so swamped with school work I have been slacking in the blog world!  But soon school will not be an excuse.  I just have to keep telling myself only 2 weeks left...thank goodness!

Well Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays for many reasons....

First, I love that we have a holiday that is made specifically to give thanks.  I'm trying to make a conscious effort to be thankful all the time and in all situations good and bad, but Thanksgiving really helps to bring it to everyone's attention.

I have so much to be thankful for.  First of all, I am thankful for my Lord who gave us His Son so that we could be saved!  I recently have really been able to strengthen my relationship with God and I pray everyday that I continue to grow with Him.   I truly believe because of God I was blessed with everything else I am thankful for.  God has this thing called a plan for my life and I'm glad I finally stepped back to wait for his plan and not try to control everything myself.  Because of His plan this super amazing man walked into my life named David.  I am so thankful for my husband; he truly was made for me!  Not only is he good looking, but he brings SO MUCH laughter into my life.  I can be at my breaking point ready to cry and he can make me laugh and then I cry, but he's always there!  I'm also thankful that everyday he is seeking a relationship with the Lord, it's so important to me that our relationship with God is our first priority.  I believe I can make it through anything with him because of our foundation in God.  Next, I have been blessed with an AMAZING family.  I love them all so much!  There have been some bumps in the road but I would not change anything about my past because I love the place I am with my family.  I have realized how much they have shaped me into who I am and am so grateful. So this post isn't forever long....some other things I am thankful for are my friends and extended family, my health, mine and David's jobs, a house to live in and the list goes on and on.  There are so many things in my life I am thankful for but most importantly I am thankful for the relationships I have made and the people in my life.

Secondly....I love the food and fellowship!  I love that we get to just spend time with family and graze all day long over the food.  Some of my favorite dishes on Thanksgiving are the fried turkey, collards, fudge pie, cherry pie, pecan pie, and LOTS of coffee!! The first Thanksgiving stop is dinner with the Winkles side.  And we literally cook enough food to feed a small army. I will try and take pictures of the amount of food we have...it's insane!  Then we go visit with my mom's side of the family and try to be polite and eat again, but it's almost impossible until I see my aunt's homemade cheesecake then of course I make more room.  Last year we also went to David's parents but thankfully this year we moved that to Friday.  I love how different mine and David's family are in terms of size. There are 13 grandchildren in the Winkles family and 8 great-grandchildren...needless to say there are a lot of family members at Winkles get togethers when you add boyfriends, spouses, friends, and the children.  At times it can be quite chaotic with all the little ones running around, but I absolutely love it.  David had some adjusting to do though because he is an only child and none of his cousin live around here.  His family Thanksgiving is just him, his parents, and grandmother.  It's way less calmer over there.  I love it though because we are able to go from crazy to calm!

Thirdly, hello Black Friday.  I don't really know why I like Black Friday so much because I never get the really good deals.  I guess I just like all the excitement of it and have been going for the last 4 years.  The sad part is no one in my family is really big into waking up at the crack of dawn (or for this year not even going to bed) to go shopping.  I was complaining about this to my dad and guess what...he said he would go with me!  He is such a great Dad!  I'm very happy to have a shopping buddy this year!  Hopefully he doesn't back out after he has eaten all that food on Thursday!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!  And don't forget to thank the ones you love for all they have done!

(Source: via Google)