What is Thanksgiving really about, giving thanks or the food?

Interesting question from one of Ella's friends in her Kindergarten class. Of course Thanksgiving is for giving thanks for all the blessings in one's life but I would argue that the food is pretty dang important as well. This train of thought took me down the "what am I really thankful for" track. While I don't want to take away from the significance of the usual suspects; family, friends, a place to live, money in my pocket and food on the table, I created quite a list of miscellaneous blessings that I would like to share with you all. I am thankful for (in no particular order):

*My carpool which saves me from ever having to drive to school in the morning
*Casa Del Rey
*Jodi Picoult, Mary Higgins Clark and Debbie Macomber-authors who write vastly different
types of books that entertain me equally
*Kenra Thermal Styling Spray
*Holiday Clearinghouse-an organization that matches families in need with donors who provide
Christmas gifts and items they would not otherwise have. A wonderful cause and I would
encourage you all to check it out at http://www.helplinecenter.org/hch.php
*Minerva's cheese spread
*My CD burner
*Sioux Falls Park and Rec so I can continue to play volleyball even though I am old
*Diet Coke
*Having a husband who can fix anything
*Health insurance
*90210 reruns
*Culver's snack pack and chocolate custard
*My blue step stool that I got for a wedding shower gift many moons ago
*Regis and Kelly
*Rubbermaid totes so I can organize the girls' old clothes
*Augustana College
*Email
*Spaghetti, chocolate chip cookies and hot cha-chas
*AAA Refrigeration and Appliances as they are rock star appliance fixers
*Being able to stay home with my girls
*Father Lawerence
*Our fireplaces
*ER and ANTM(for those of you who are non-fans, aka-America's Next Top Model)
*Main floor laundry
*Green Giant Chicken Teriakyi Create a Meal
*Vicki-the friendliest HyVee cashier (and also the dairy guy and meat counter guy-I don't know
their names but they are always so nice to me and the girls)
*Adjustable foot pedals in my car
*Target
*People who read and enjoy my blog
*My camera
*Ice and water in the door of my fridge
*My perfect jeans from The Gap
*Peanut smiles
*Fryn' Pan's chili and french dressing
*Our electric pencil sharpener
*Bird's Eye steam fresh vegetables-especially the corn and mixed vegetables
*Walmart.com photo center
*Southeastern Behavioral HealthCare's Festival of Trees-An awesome way to get into the
holiday spirit while supporting a great organization. Check it out at the Arena this weekend! http://www.southeasternbh.org/Festival_of_Trees.html
*Online shopping and banking
*My Pampered chef bar spatula
*Old Navy bonus bucks and their stuff and save bag
*Spell check
*Bob and Mary-our old neighbors
*Timberlodge's peppercorn sauce and their bread and butter
*Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and Guy Fieri
*Peanut Butter Twix
*Jason's old Army tshirts which are now my PJ's
*Dairy Queen cherry arctic rushes
*Caramel Pecan danishes from HyVee
*Schmidt's Bakery glazed doughnuts
*JAKES PIZZA

I couldn't believe how fast all of these things came to me. Proof to me, anyway, the small things in life do matter! All of these things bring me joy and I challenge each of you to spend a few minutes sometime in the next week reflecting on the things for which you are thankful-no matter how big or small!