Thankful

Thanksgiving is a great holiday. I don't think it's my favorite...Christmas takes that honor...but still, it's a close second. I love the idea of taking time out, as a nation, to say "We are thankful".

If you watch any politics at all, you'll get the idea that we Americans, are teetering on the brink of disaster. It's a culture of fear. "Get out and vote for Candidate X or you will be in a gulag this time next year for saying the Lord's Prayer!" "Get out and vote for Candidate Y or all 16 year olds and above will be forced into arranged marriages!" OK, it's not quite that bad, but it's getting there. And it's so ridiculous. It's not that politics is unimportant...far from it...but just that we, as a nation, are so blessed. If you take a look at the world today, things here in the US are truly not so bad. You can keep your Tea Parties and your Occupy movements and your righteous indignation on your side of the aisle, whatever that may be, and I'm going to keep thanking my lucky stars that I live right here, right now. That's my political party right there: Grateful. I'm a registered (G).

OK, random political rant over with, we're certainly feeling very blessed here at Casa Ewaldo. As another year wanes, our cups truly runneth over. We are brimful of delight at the thought of meeting this little person we've been wanting for a long time. And Addie is a constant joy. She seems to have eased out of her last "difficult" phase and we're enjoying our newly cooperative little punkin. I'm sure she'll re-enter a challenging phase at some point before she leaves for college, but for now, we're just loving her personality without all the discipline issues!

As far as Thanksgiving itself goes, we don't have huge plans. Tim is on call, which is a bummer, but someone has to do it. Addie and I will make our way up to the cities for an afternoon with family and friends. We had our pick of events...a veritable smorgasbord of feasts... but I decided that a whole day of running around with Ads, on my own, is a bit too much right now. Because at 36 weeks, folks, I am getting tired. My body is definitely getting to that point where I'm thinking "Sure, labor hurts, but let's do this!"So we're settling for an afternoon of fun and then back home to wait for Tim/Daddy and bring him pumpkin pie in bed.

And a small note of thankfulness: Tim got me a new lens for my camera for my birthday/Christmas! I'm so so so (insert a lot of so's) excited because I had become really uninspired with taking pictures. Addie is difficult to photograph at the best of times, and our first lens was pretty much only decent in great outdoor light or in its auto modes, usually employing a flash. Anyone who takes a decent amount of photos knows that flash ruins a lot of pictures. I wanted to shoot on manual, but my lens just sucked, to be frank. I had a choice between getting nice light but blurry Addie or focused Addie in bad lighting. Or being outside. Which is not always practical for half the year here in MN. But now, it's a whole new world! So I should be able to upload some good pictures soon.

And another small grace note: it's only snowed ONCE here so far! And that was very light. I'm sure the natives are getting restless, but the transplants are thankful. Or at least this transplant is thankful! I don't mind cold so much, but snow makes everything so much harder on the moms of the Roc. When the snow does make an appearance, I'm determined to be positive about it, but I think it's fine to be positive about its absence too!

And finally, I'm thankful for this space and anyone who cares enough to read my ramblings! :-) Enjoy the day!