The CHRISTmas tree is up!

It's the day after Thanksgiving. A day when we usually want to put the tree up. Mindy and I always hated putting up the tree. We have a prelit, artificial tree...how much easier could it be. But it still seemed like such a chore. Usually I took all the boxes out of the attic, and she and the kids would decorate. This year I took the boxes down like usual, and my oldest stepped up and grabbed the parts of the tree and took over. That let me focus on the other decorations and it turned out okay. Mindy did it better, but it'll do.

Now I just need to start wrapping all the gifts I have hidden around the house so it will really look like CHRISTmas around the house. Each year at Thanksgiving I try to reflect on things I'm really thankful for. This year was difficult, not that I have less to be thankful for. The opposite is probably more true. But the emotions attached this year were more than I was expecting. I'm getting pretty good and hiding it from the kids though. I don't hide from them all the time, they need to know that I feel just like they feel. But sometimes, it's too much for me, all the overwhelming emotions. I can be on the brink of tears, drowning in sorrow and then I could think of something Mindy would say and I'll be so over joyed that I was able to spend a good decade with her. They don't really need to see all that. But I digress, this year I must say that above all I'm thankful for God's presence.

I've had more than one in the last two months where I had to put my faith in God that things would work out well. And on each occassion, things did not go anywhere near the expected path. But in the end it all worked out well. That presence of God, that he is looking out for my family. That he does hear my prayers. What could I possibly be more thankful for than that? Be sure to give thanks for all you have, and all that God has taken from you. His will is perfect, even if you don't understand it.