Each year I’m growing in my appreciation for the Thanksgiving holiday. When I was younger, it always felt like the ugly step-child of holidays hanging out between Halloween and the ultimate holiday – Christmas. I’ve always enjoyed the fun of Halloween with the opportunity of donning a different persona for the day, and I love me some candy. But as that holiday has become more commercialized and geared more and more toward adults, it’s charms have waned a bit for me. As to Christmas, I still really like to celebrate the holiday and an extended time to “just be” with my family. And of course, I absolutely love making Christmas cards and connecting that way with family and friends near and far. But I don’t like the intensity and crazy commerce-based focus on the getting ready. I have many pet peeves, but one especially is the car ads. Seriously – who buys 2 GMC trucks as Christmas gifts?!? It just seems so incredibly out of touch with the reality of 99% of our lives. And this brings me to my growing love of Thanksgiving. I love it’s simplicity and the thoughts behind the focus of the day. There is something so fundamental and basic about celebrating the gifts in life like a meal that is shared with others. I realize that there are many that don’t feel like celebrating this year, and the holiday is very challenging for our neighbors that are struggling with food insecurity. However, I do think it’s important to pause and think about the blessings that we do have, even if they don’t seem big. In fact, the small blessings may be the most profound. And being grateful for all of these blessings is fundamental (in my opinion) to building a foundation for happiness and joy.
One thing that I’m especially grateful for this year are the amazing staff at our church. They have worked so hard over the course of the pandemic to keep our family of faith connected to each other and to God. They have been so creative and thoughtful at every stage of the pandemic, and they really have inspired all of us to support each other. I’m giving these cards to these amazing people to let them know that I appreciate all that they do for us, and I hope that their Thanksgiving is great. It’s their last chance to take a breath before the crazy Advent season begins, and I want them to know that they are loved and appreciated.
I knew that I wanted to use this sentiment from the Thinking Thanks & Peace stamp set for my card. I went to my favorite sketch site and found this older sketch that had a horizontal panel that seemed perfectly sized for this greeting. And since it’s still Fall, this card was a perfect change to use the Gorgeous Leaves bundle again for this seasonal card.
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