Still thankful after all these years!

The leftovers are gone, the excess turkey soup is in the freezer, the last drop of eggnog has been downed and I am still thankful for friends and family. I've spent two weeks in Kentucky with my son Scott, his wife Shannon and two college age grandsons, Mason and Mitchell.....plus two dogs, Nellie, a beautiful blonde retriever and McKinley, a hunky chocolate lab rescued from the pound. I cannot keep up to this group......that is.....unless I take a nap. There were 29 guests for Thanksgiving dinner......friends and friends of friends. Not until a few seconds before we sat down to dinner at the "big" table did we know for sure how many were coming. Were any of the fraternity brothers that didn't go home, coming? Was anyone left out? Keisha and her kids came up from Tennessee.....I had met her many years ago in Italy when Scott and her husband flew helicopters together. Unfortunately, Paul was killed six years ago while terrorist training in the Phillipines. Military families are very bonded....so it was wonderful to rememeber the good times and catch up. We ate and laughed and played games and built bonfires and put up the Christmas village the day after Thanksgiving. The walls held much love....and we lost count how many came and went over the weekend. So, amid the mad, insanity of trampled shoppers and terrorist evil attacks, there are people that care deeply and share routinely. There is love!