Being Thankful, Mrs.Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, Round 2 - Thanksgiving Special

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Thanksgiving Special

Thanksgiving, I mean the holiday with a big turkey dinner, does not exist in Sweden. There is a Sunday in the church year called 'Tacksägelse', which would translate as 'Thanksgiving', but it is nothing like the big family holiday that is celebrated in the English-speaking world.

We will not be eating turkey tomorrow. But I am linking up with Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday Thanksgiving Special in order to wish the other participants a happy and blessed holiday tomorrow.

One of the last times I celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents and brother and his family was in 2004, when Elisabet was just six months old. She was born with a small heart defect and had to have open-heart surgery just one week old. So the first summer with her for me circled around keeping her alive - or that was how I felt about it at that time. Giving her medicines, feeding her, taking her to check ups etc. By the time we took the trip to see my parents in West Virginia and got to show Elisabet off, I was very tired. So tired, that when the big holiday finally arrived and we all sat around the fancy dining-room table enjoying this wonderful turkey feast, I did not know what to say. It was my turn to say what I was thankful for and I could not think of anything to be thankful for. Then it was my father's turn, and he said that he was thankful to have such a wonderful wife, our mother, who took such good care of him. (And she really did.) It was then I remembered what I had just been through that past year and exactly what I was thankful for: I was thankful for being there and for the fact that Elisabet was alive and well.

Six years later, I can look back at that particular Thanksgiving as a cherished memory. Daddy was still alive then and was happy to get aquianted with his new granddaughter. He passed away two years later.

And now I am in the middle of restructuring my life in a very big way. But I'm not complaining. This is a post about counting our blessings. So I can say that I am thankful for having had two loving parents and a wonderful brother, sister-in-law, nieces and an incredible nephew, whose birthday it is tomorrow, November 25th. I am thankful for my children. And am hopeful for the future.

Best wishes & blessings,
Anna

First Commenter:
Jackie of
My Mother Wears Combat Boots

Second Commenter:
Judie of
Rogue Artists




Third Commenter:
Mary of
Home is Where the Boat is

To visit other posts about Alphabe-Thursday's Thanksgiving Special, please go to this site.