I find Gratitude a very difficult emotion, as mysterious as the opposite sex.  Sometimes gratitude is as clear as the sky on a cloudless day and yet other times it seems elusive.

Take for example a Holiday like Thanksgiving.  It is so crystal clear when you sit down to an overflowing table of turkey and all the trimmings surrounded by your loved ones.  You feel the warmth of food, family, and friends.  Everything about the moment fills you with - well, gratitude.

On that same day, however take the moment four hours earlier when you have been in the kitchen for three days not just preparing for one meal, but preparing every meal in between.  You have washed the same pot four times today and you've been to the store 15 times along with everyone else in three counties.  You are tired, hungry, in desperate need of a vodka tonic and not some wimpy wine that suppose to make brussel sprouts divine. As, if!

That's the moment your sister-in-law decides to "pop-in" to see how it's going and mentions that she and her family are now vegan so they can't eat any of the food you've made so she's brought a Tofurkey to bake in your already full oven on 300 for 45 minutes.  "Thanks!"

Your own family has had 10 years to discuss Great Grandma's antique brooch but they take this moment to argue about who got it, what it is really worth, and more importantly - and of course the loudest is - who wants it.  All the while Grandpa and Uncle Jay sit on the couch turning up the volume on the football game screaming at the opponent and asking "whens dinner".

So you see my dilemma?  There are moments when gratitude is so clear, and there are moments when you wonder if there is enough wine in the world to get you through another Holiday. 

If you have received this blog in your email, know that I am very grateful for you and this Thanksgiving I am wishing and praying for the very best for you and your family during the holiday season.