I am thankful ...

... that the turkey is in the oven. I've already made the cranberry sauce ... the potatoes are boiling ... two bottles of Chianti are sitting on the table, pumpkin pie is baked and cooling on the counter and a big, home made bottle of limoncello :-) is icing up in the freezer for after dinner in front of the fireplace. My two beautiful children and several of their friends will be at the table this year ... though they are all off to the mountain for some skiing right now ... or I should say snowboarding since none of them ski anymore.

Somehow I always end up at home with the cooking but I have never minded that job. Every year it gives me a little quiet time to reflect on the year past and the year to come while I peel potatoes and baste the turkey and sneak in a little stitching time between chores.

This year has been interesting. Full of ups and downs for all of us but for the most part, as I look back, I don't think there is much I would change.

And so I make my traditional mental list of what I am thankful for while I chop and baste (turkey, not linen, for a change :-) and stitch:

I am thankful for healthy, happy children who bring youth and joy and laughter into my life each day I am with them.

I am thankful for kind, supportive friends who lend their ears and hands and hearts to me when I least expect it and need it most.

I am thankful that I have been given a job that I love, that brings me pleasure each time I sit down to do it and that hopefully brings others equal pleasure.

I am thankful for all of you who support me in this endeavor, both my customers for purchasing what I dream up and my suppliers who make those dreams a reality.

I am thankful for my home, for the serenity of the mountains it sits in, for the opportunities I have been given to visit other beautiful places, to experience other cultures, to make new friends far and wide.

I am thankful to have this venue to wish all of you many, many things to be thankful for this coming year. May your days be warm and bright and filled with love, friends and family.

And I am thankful that the kids will be coming home from the mountain in a few hours so I can set the table and we can sit to eat together on this day of Thanksgiving ... for that, I am so very thankful.

Peace and Joy, Paix et Joie, Pace e di giolia, Vrede en Vreugde,

Cynthia