Each year, we go to my grandparents’ farm in northern Missouri for Thanksgiving. I always look forward to it, and this year I have some pictures from our time. On Thursday, my grandmother made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, and we enjoyed talking about the year and catching up a bit. That evening, the weather was beautiful! All the guys went out skeet-shooting and my cousin Anna and I went on a walk.

The Noble men.

Anna and I.

That night, all of us cousins had Nerf gun battles in the basement. It was almost as fun to watch as it was to play! :)

Jonathan

Austin was pretty much the reigning champion. I never beat him even once!

We also played a fun group game of pictionary.

Anna and I got our traditional picture in the big chair together.  :)

On Friday, we picked out our Christmas tree at the farm.

It didn’t take very long to find one. The tree we found is not perfect, but with some ornaments and lights, it will look great!

Wesley and our cousin Andrew.

Austin and Jonathan enjoyed exploring the woods.

Loading up our tree to bring home.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving. I love going up to the farm and spending time with family!

It is such a blessing!

As we rapidly approach Thanksgiving and all the busyness that accompanies it, it can be easy to overlook the true reason of the Thanksgiving celebration. Namely, it is to give thanks to God for His faithfulness to us. It’s to look over the past year and praise Him for the blessings that He has given us. We also remember the Pilgrims, who started the tradition of Thanksgiving.

One special tradition is to place five kernels of corn on each plate before the Thanksgiving meal. These symbolize the grueling hardships of the Pilgrims during their first few years in America and their faith in God through it all.

At one point, the daily ration of food for each Pilgrim was 5 kernels of corn. With faith that God would sustain them, no matter what, they survived the grueling winters in America. Their example of heartfelt gratitude in the first Thanksgiving is beautifully articulated in the Thanksgiving prayer by William Bradford:

O Lord our God and heavenly Father, your unspeakable mercy towards us has provided food and drink for the nourishment of our bodies. Grand us peace to use them reverently, as from your hands, with thankful hearts. Let your blessing rest upon each of us, good Lord. Grant that as we do hunger and thirst for this food for our bodies so our souls may earnestly long after the food of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord and risen Savior, Amen.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, let’s not forget to praise the Lord, like the Pilgrims did, for all He’s done for us!

My Grandmother recently shared this sweet poem with me. I loved it! What a great reminder to be thankful for the little things! Our attitude towards life affects so much, and its important to have the right attitude- like this lady who only had three hairs on her head.

There once was a woman who woke up one morning,
Looked in the mirror,
And noticed she had only three hairs on her head.
“Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.”
So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up,
Looked in the mirror,
And saw that she had only two hairs on her head.
“H-m-m,” she said.
“I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.”
So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up,
Looked in the mirror,
And noticed that she only had one hair on her head.
“Today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.”
So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up,
Looked in the mirror,
And noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.
“Yea!” she exclaimed.
“I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

     Unknown Author

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
~Winston Churchill