As I’m sitting here scrolling through Facebook and Instagram, I can’t help but think of how wonderful the abundance of gratefulness and appreciation is throughout social media. In a world filled with such hate and destruction, we can unite to be appreciative.

You hear a lot these days that everyone cracks on others for saying #Blessed or #Grateful, you know, that kind of thing. We’ll see memes tomorrow with someone’s blank face labeled “my face when scrolling through people’s blessed posts.”

Well that is annoying.

Today of all days, we take a moment from our crazy lives and pause. We pause to say thanks for everything we’ve been blessed with and forget the negativity that is constantly flooding the world today.

We all have a lot to be thankful for, our health, a new day, our families, our friends, our interests, our future — our present. There is something at the end of the day that we can be grateful for, and today we all celebrate our gratefulness with one another.

I had the normal and traditional Thanksgiving meal and indulged in some vino. The turkey and ham were fantastic but my favorite each year are the sides. Greenbean casserole is my favorite along with my father’s stuffing and southwest mac and cheese. I also find it awesome that our family has introduced honey cornbread to the menu as an annual tradition; it’s super moist and flavorful and the perfect way to end your plate before the dessert is served.

 Oysters. Our family, since I can remember has always had a raw oyster bar during Thanksgiving. It’s been a tradition that I used to hate. One day I decided to try a raw oyster and I could probably eat them weekly. Something about them hits my palette just right; salty, spicy, refreshing, delicious. It’s the right combination and I love them.

  
The food was great as usual but I have to say the memories around it were even better. It legit felt like the true meaning of Thanksgiving. I was with people I loved and I felt like it was something I’d never forget.

My little cousin Gracie warmed my heart tonight. She is a cautious kiddo like I was but when we decided to finish out the evening with roasting marshmallows, I saw her go out of her comfort zone to create a deliciously roasted sugary treat. She likes to understand things; find the limit of something and stay in her box. I can appreciate that and I do. I’m just so proud of her and the little young lady that she already is. She’s not the baby anymore and she’s super sweet and kind. She just wants everyone to get along, no problems and no one to be worried. Don’t we all want that?

 These are the moments that I’m thankful for. Do I love expensive things? Yes. But I wouldn’t trade these moments for a zillion dollars any day. Sitting around the bonfire with the kiddos while laughing, seeing positive change and an abundance of familial love is what life is all about.

I wasn’t going to write anything about today but as I was sitting on my couch, my dog hopped on my lap and I started to pet him. It then hit me.

My dog was a rescue from a kill shelter two short years ago. They found him on Christmas on the side of the road and his ears were frost bitten. They named him Frosty. After I adopted him, his name needed to be changed. He is a little dog but needed an EPIC name after his crazy journey into my life. A friend thought of Spartacus and it stuck; a warrior.

Why bring this up? Because I couldn’t do anything but sit here and think about how grateful I am that he is in my life and how happy he is to be out of the cold. He may feel lucky but we couldn’t imagine him not in our family.

Happy Thanksgiving and remember not to think about what you don’t have; but think about what you do have and how lucky you are to have it. Not everyone fairs as well as you do.

Oh, and rescue a dog.