Gratitude and Remembrances

 
 I sit at my kitchen table drinking a fragrant cup of cinnamon tea, I am anticipating the upcoming season of Christmas.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I absolutely love, love, love Christmas!  I enjoy just about every thing about Christmas.  I'm not fond of shopping in overcrowded shopping centers and dealing with grinches, but online shopping has delivered me from that particular ordeal.
   Anyway, back to sitting at my kitchen table...
   Chris and I were talking about the Thanksgiving Day that had passed just a week ago.  We have so much to be thankful for.  We have gotten in the habit of writing down the things we are thankful for.  An attitude of gratitude changes our hearts when we start to feel down because we dwell too closely on the circumstances that are dragging us down.  We can't change the difficult parts of our lives, so we need to be diligent to stay positive and remember that the Lord is in control of the things that want to overwhelm us.
   As we were reminiscing and just enjoying the season, the song on the radio changed.  "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" came on the internet radio.  I really like this song.  Usually I start singing it at the top of my lungs.  I opened my mouth to sing out loud, and to my surprise I suddenly found my eyes filling up with tears instead.  All the memories of past Christmas's flooded my mind and I realized how different this year will be.  Nanny, the force behind this big Italian family, is gone.  How do we celebrate without hearing her voice?  Uncle Anthony is also gone.  This year has brought so much suffering and pain.  How do we continue our traditions with such big pieces of our family missing?
   I am so thankful to God for his mercies.  We still have Josh.  That's such a little sentence, but the feeling behind it is huge!  So many times during the last year, we watched him while he got weaker and weaker and we wondered if he would survive.  Thanks be to God for his grace and mercy toward us!
   So, we will celebrate!  Our family is different this year, but our God is the same!  So many things changed this year, but God didn't.  I will choose to be grateful.