Thankful Thursday

I know I have said this before, but Wow, where did this week go?! The holidays are coming up fast and everyone is trying to get their homes decorated and their shopping done. We went from Thanksgiving dinner, and family gatherings right to jumping into planning for Christmas dinner, and an even bigger family gathering.

It seems like most of us are scaling down Christmas this year. Broadening the circle of friends and family who don’t make the Christmas Gift list this year. We are telling our children that Christmas is going to be smaller this year than last year – which is exactly what we told them last year. We are now looking into more gifts that can be handmade for both adults, and children. We are trying to figure out the limits, and the etiquette of regifting, trying to figure out how to make everyone happy without insulting them at the same time.

Every once in a while, I turn on the news, and I hear that the recession is coming to an end, profits are up, and companies are recovering. Somebody might want to tell that to the factory in my town that just laid off another 110 workers as of the first of the New Year. Our little town is struggling, and I run into acquaintances who I thought had secure jobs only to hear them say that they are looking for work.

Seems like a bit of a downer – but the thing is, even while we are down, we still have a smile on our faces. Sure we are stressed, but we are getting by. We support each other through friendship, and we work to stay positive. We have a meltdown every now and then, but we have learned to scale down, be creative and to get by and not let it ruin us. I don’t think some of the Wall Street types can say the same after losing their jobs, and their high end comfort zone.

The thing about being an average American is that we don’t let the big things get us down, and we turn the little things in to nothing. We get by, and we are Thankful for what we have. We still continue to dream the big dreams, but still embrace the little dreams we create in our own homes. Even when we are struggling, we understand that others are struggling too. Even when we cut back and go without, when someone we know needs help, we offer what we can, even if it means going without even more.

I am Thankful to be an average American with big dreams, and a strong resilience. To know that I can keep pushing on, and that things will get better.

I am also Thankful that while our house has been the breeding place for several sickness in the past several weeks, that we may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am ever so Thankful for caffeine, and the fact that we still have bite sized Halloween candy. Those quick little chocolaty treats really make a girl feel good!

As always, I am Thankful for my happy, healthy, wild little beasties that run around my house all day long driving me crazy, I am Thankful that we have a roof over our heads and for our wonderfully supportive group of friends and family and all the ways they help us.

Here is how Thankful Thursdays works:

1. Post your Thankful Thoughts on your blog. Somewhere in your post please mention The Nut House and http://ourhappynuthouse.com/ so that your friends, family and visitors know where to find other Thankful Thoughts. You can also grab my Thankful Thursdays banner and link to that. Once you have done that you can come back here and add your post to MckLinky.

Not everyone has a blog, so:

2. If you don’t have a blog, you can leave a Thankful Thoughts comment in the comment section.

3. You can show your Thankful Thoughts any way you like, as a list, as a story, as one word, one sentence or just a picture. Have fun!