Giving Thanks

It's been rather intensely busy here and before you know it, a month has flown by! I am constantly amazed how fast time moves. My son is almost a year old and getting very mobile. He can stand with help from furniture and he crawls as though he's racing everyone everywhere. :)
I must admit that I have struggled a lot this month to be thankful. There's been many things surrounding that, but it wouldn't be productive to share that here. Instead, God has been reminding me that the best cure for my discontent is to BE thankful and I thought I should share what I have to be thankful for. And as it's November that seems particularly appropriate.
Mark and I enjoyed a trip over to Cambridge to celebrate Thanksgiving with Brooke and Dan as well as several other lovely Christian friends. It was Colin's first time to Cambridge as well and we were blessed with a GORGEOUS Sunday in which to walk to church and share leftovers with the Newmans as well as lovely fellowship.
A week later we celebrated a second Thanksgiving in order to share that tradition with a large group of our British friends. It was a two turkey feast and my good friend Naomi kindly cooked the second one for us. Another kind friend lent us her home as there was no way 16 people were going to fit in our little flat!
And now we are the verge of the Christmas season (ask me and we're in it, ask Mark and he says wait til December 1st :) ) and I have pulled out all our Christmas decor. I was pondering that the last time I had this stuff out, my folks were here and my Dad and Mark enjoyed tossing our denuded tree over the railing of our first floor flat, rather than drag it down the stairs. And I had just given birth to a small new person. One who is currently figuring out the joys of ringing an oversized jingle bell.
Tomorrow we will take him to pick out our first tree as a family of three. It's been lovely and cold with lots of frost. Since the closest England usually gets to snow, I'm quite pleased. It will be just the right atmosphere for Christmas tree hunting.
These are all lovely things. But they are that-things. I know that I am not to look to outside surroundings and circumstances to find my contentment and happiness. But God has been kind to use those things to bring joy and He has reminded me that the reason the holidays are lovely for me is because I know WHY we celebrate. I have a Saviour to whom I can give thanks, and whose birth I am celebrating and whose comfort and love are not limited to the times when I'm feeling good and spiritually in order. He loves me when I'm a mess as well and that still boggles my mind.
So I am thankful. I'm excited for our season of anticipation. I am thankful for my loving and patient husband. I'm thankful for my sweet boy and the new things he does every day. I'm thankful for my family, a skype away, and friends on facebook, and fellowship with believers here. See you in December!