Thanksgiving is so underrated. I mean, c’mon, you spend the whole day stuffing your face with food surrounded by your loved ones. What more could you want from a holiday?! In all seriousness, I love that we take an entire day for giving thanks. An integral part of contemplative prayer is thanking God for the abundance of blessing He has poured out upon us, so while Thanksgiving may not be a “religious” holiday per say, it has heavily religious connotations.
This Thanksgiving, my immediate family took a trip up to South Bend, Indiana, for me to go see the University of Notre Dame. While I loved all of what the school is doing and the huge opportunities it would provide me, seeing Notre Dame was further confirmation of my desire to attend a different school (not revealing to my “blog world” quite yet). No decisions have been made, but I’m grateful that I’ve started to find some clarity in my direction for next year. However, because we were up there, we spent Thanksgiving day with the family of a man my dad works with, and it was definitely a Thanksgiving for the books. They were so gracious and hospitable, we had an awesome and hilarious time sharing the holiday with them.
My brother and I at Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto at Notre Dame
For the past two birthdays I’ve had, the night before I’ve taken the time to write down all the things in my life that I’m thankful for. I think that birthdays come with a lot of nostalgia anyway, so it brings up a lot of memories of the important things in life. I was in a small group shortly after my birthday this year, and I couldn’t suppress expressing how my heart was bursting with so much gratitude for all the blessings in my life. It’s been a really hard semester. I’ve had quite a few curveballs thrown my way, and I haven’t always caught them gracefully. Despite this, I was, and still am, very grateful, because there are far more things in my life to celebrate than to despair over. I felt a similar gratitude as I wrote this in our rental van, driving back to Louisiana, though I was sweaty, gross, and everything I’d eaten–regardless of what it was–seemed to be covered in a layer of grease. You know, I’m thankful for that grease… nope, not really. But I am very thankful for the people that made those grilled nuggets from Chick fi La and my dad for buying them.
There’s really no “point” to this post, just feeling nothing short of thankful (Avett Brothers, anyone?). So, to wrap this up, here’s a list of some of the things I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving:
– My best friend, my father, my love: Jesus. Whatta dude, guys. Thank you for everything, but especially for willing me to exist at this very moment and the Eucharistic miracle.
– My mom and dad, who are beyond supportive, loving, and patient. I want to be half as in love with someone as they are with each other. A shout out to my “little” (all three of them are giants, even the almost 6 year old) brothers who are my saint-makers.
– My Catholic faith, ‘nuff said.
– My friends, from every area of my life. My amazing friend group at school who shower me with way more love than I deserve, my theater friends who are always down to belt Heathers with me, my youth group friends, who keep me grounded and are my inspiration, and all the others who are equally as loved and special to me.
– My car, whose name is Maggie Angela. Maggie is for Dame Maggie Smith, a favorite actress of mine, and Angela is for The Lumineers song Angela, which is my favorite on their new album, Cleopatra.
– My house and material necessities
– FOOD: so thankful this year for the abundance of gluten-free and dairy-free options for us that have to be (definitely not by choice).
– The mountains. Oh how I miss them.
– Music. Especially of the folk/bluegrass/indie variety
– In that vein, I’m thankful for Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, The Oh Hellos, and Bob Dylan.
– The Oh Hellos’ Dear Wormwood (aka soundtrack to my life)
– Electric Light Orchestra’s Out of the Blue
– Peanuts
– Dark chocolate
– Hiking
– My record player
– Water. Because hot damn, I love me some H20
– My MacBook Air I’m writing on right now (thanks dad)
– Judah of the Lion’s EP Sweet Tennessee
– The theatre department at SPS, my home away from home.
– Broadway.
– My teachers, who always deserve a shoutout because they’re absolutely amazing at what they do and for answering all my questions.
– Downton Abbey, Gilmore Girls, Friends, The Office, You’ve Got Mail, Dead Poets Society, La La Land, and all my MANY other favorite movies.
– OLL Younglife youth group leaders (aka my friends and the people I want to be when I grow up)
– This list because it’s so long and I love that I have so much to be thankful for
– The WICKED surprise party my mom and best friend threw for me
– My choir and our amazing director
– Spotify, because it changed my life.
Lastly, I very thankful for the real MVP: Netflix. Let’s give a big hand to Netflix for keeping me somewhat relaxed the past 4 years, because there’s nothing like a couple episodes of Gilmore Girls or watching a bad chick flick to keep you sane.
Happy Beginning of the Holiday Season!
Margaret Jane 