A Thanksgiving CHALLENGE...

Hello friends, family, and complete strangers! I am so excited for Thanksgiving this year and I think you should be too. Not all of us can spend the holiday with family and we all seem to be riding the roller coaster that life is, but there is still so much to be grateful for. We have our health... We have friends and family who love us even if they aren't close by... We have food on the table...
This is my first Thanksgiving with the Plymouth colony just down the road and the home of the first Thanksgiving, as the story goes. I wanted to do something different to celebrate this new proximity and to take a step back from the Turkey Bowl games, the warm smells of kitchens all around town, and from the guaranteed games that will ensue with the other YSAs after Turkey and Pie.

So now that brings us to the challenge... In honor of this day of sharing our gratitude and appreciation for our blessings I challenge each and every one of you to write in your blogs or your journal at least 100 things you are grateful for this Thanksgiving. I'd prefer your blogs so that we all can be reminded of just how much we have been blessed with this year and this season. You may think that is an awfully large number of things to be grateful for, but it really isn't... That and we have thousands of things to be grateful for if we just slow down and look around once in a while. It may take a few moments of quiet reflection, but our hearts will be changed and we'll all feel a little more love... I PROMISE!

Here's my list:

1. My Mom
2. My Dad
3. The Temple
4. Small temples that have been everywhere I've lived
   
5. The Book of Mormon
6. My Savior, Jesus Christ
7. The Atonement - and coming to a better understanding of it and just how much it covers (the perfect, infinite Atonement)
   
8. Having the necessities of life - roof, food, clothing
   
9. Priesthood Blessings
   
10. Living in Boston and experiencing the history of the area
    
11. Getting to know the Bromley's much better this year
12. Prayers being answered
13. The peace of the Holy Ghost
    
14. New England Fall Leaves
15. My growing collection of cookbooks
16. A running car that is reliable
17. Great gas mileage for said car
    
18. Cheezy Chick Flicks
19. Melissa
20. Andrea
    
21. The Game of Risk
22. Being Ty's pawn in Axis and Allies/Always killing Maria first
23. Ty
24. Maria
25. Ike
    
26. Inside jokes involving Irkutsk from Reno
27. Duck Hunting
    
28. The mouthwatering that occurs when I think of Awful-Awfuls at the Little Nugget
    
29. Siblings and Nieces and Nephews who I love and love me
30. The New FamilySearch
31. That it hasn't snowed in Boston yet this Fall/Winter
    
32. That I didn't die/get in any car accidents crossing Donner Pass this last Winter
33. Seeing the Country in such a short period of time
34. Being able to work for Governor Romney
35. Working for Joe and having him as a friend now
    
36. The Adventure that is my life - that it is an adventure, not a boring changeless life
    
37. Being able to visit Carolyn in New York (SO excited for New Years!)
38. Carolyn
39. The ability to make friends
40. Having made friends in every state that I've lived so far no matter how short my time there was
41. Hieu
42. Michelle
43. The hilarity of politics - and the inside stories
    
44. My parents starting to blog
45. The e-mails in my inbox when you leave my comments and the feeling that I'm loved each brings
46. The convenience of Food Blogs with all of their great pictures
47. Prop 8 passing
48. Democracy in our country - even if the vote goes against my own opinions
49. Scarves and fingerless gloves that my mom has knitted for me
50. Curling up in my yellow afghan
51. Institute classes and firesides
52. Google Chat and Gmail - to keep in touch with old friends and family
53. The normalcy and settling that happens when you don't think you'll be moving
54. The feeling you get when you wear high heels
55. Faith and Hope - and the peace that it can bring
56. Becky and pictures of her little boy
57. Lindsay - and her making it in DC
58. Passing Cassie in church a few months ago
59. Finding my group of friends here in Boston
60. Cassie
    
61. Holly
62. Adam
63. Michael
64. The Nertz Posse and regularity of playing
65. Becca - hope you are loving rocking out to your play list this weekend
    
66. Jost and seeing him at church on occasion
    
67. The rest of the old work posse
68. Knowing how to cook and bake
69. Cory still calling for tech help after the election
70. Finding a place to live with lots of parking and a big closet
71. Gilmore Girls re-runs
72. Yale - and our constant bickering back and forth
73. Friends who care about me and care how my life is going right now
74. Remembering the "Summer of Awesomeness" in the Enclave
75. Understanding enough about the world to not be scared (on the whole)
76. Old Jazz Standards that give me warm fuzzy feelings
77. The Season for Christmas Music
    
78. That I'm not married yet - and as a result have had so many opportunities and experiences up until now
79. Knowing I will be married - someday...
80. My Crackberry addiction/the convenience of a Blackberry
81. Going home for Christmas and seeing my family again
82. Eggs Benedict on Christmas Morning
83. Books and Reading
84. Inheriting my father's books when he dies in a hundred years (hint, hint)
    
85. Organization - and the process of organizing
86. My Happy Face Scripture Lunch Box - absolutely functional and makes me chuckle to myself every time
87. The Posse in California - the girls who made me feel at home, the guys who tried to discuss politics at every turn, and the other ones who reached out to me when I was seemingly alone (Nicole, you were the first)
    
88. Being friends with Scott after so many years - a decade this Spring
89. My health and the health of my family
    
90. Knowing my way around and getting lost very few times since I moved to Boston - this is a true MIRACLE no matter how amazing my directional skills are
91. That I wrote a journal for most of this year that I can and do look back at it - I was amazingly wise and spot on with impressions really early on with some experiences
92. Confidence and Self-awareness
93. Technological Development - and that I'm alive now to appreciate and experience the growth
94. Heavenly Father's plan for me... and not my plan for me...
95. General Conference twice a year
96. Mine and Maria's stories from Reno - those will be hours of entertainment for our grandkids
97. Moving so much growing up so that the last 3 years wouldn't kill me emotionally
98. That the Freshman Posse and I are still distantly connected
99. The changing, growing, stretching, and experiencing that happens everyday in my life - in a seemingly fast pace over the last couple of years
    
100. That someone actually reads this blog...
     

Now that you've seen that it is absolutely doable it's your turn. I tag YOU. Don't get me wrong... the last ones are harder than the first ones, but this an absolutely doable exercise. I tag you whether I know you or not... I tag you whether I know you read this blog or not (there's a good chance I blog stalk your blog and will find out if you passed this up)... I tag you if you're going through a hard time right now... I tag you if you couldn't be happier with your life... and most of all... I tag you because I love you.

I'd love to see your list and to see who participates so just leave a comment with a link to your list or a mention that you added it in your journal...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!