The day is always so pretty after a stormy night. Father Sky colors the sky a fresh dark blue. Mother Nature encourages the sun to beam her golden rays down to warm the day’s beginning. The jet contrails fill the sky with long wispy angel wing clouds. Mr. Waxing Crescent Moon peeks out from behind a thin jet contrail. He’s staying up late to watch the day come alive. He has to work the night sky shift so he better bed down soon. I notice on my walk with Penelope the crab apple and Japanese maple trees next door are the only trees still dressed in their tattered fall frocks.

Walking again after supper with Penelope, I think the delicate light of twilight is the most beautiful part of the day. The romance of the day’s light getting dim and ethereal as the glorious colors of the sunset fade into the darkness. The birds roosting in the trees, talking quietly as the dark creeps softly into the yard, the bird feeders hang with empty posts, quietly swinging from the cardinals quick leavings. A stillness comes over the daylight’s end, the darkness wakes, and the night noises come alive as the moon and stars light up the heavens. Mr. Moon is so handsome and luminous tonight. I just went out to peek at him. I love to sit on the swing as the night blooms in its black velvet darkness. I find God in the swing on my front porch and in the beauty of the world around me.

As I undress my Thanksgiving dinner table tonight, I’m thinking about family and how many holiday dinners have been celebrated in my home. My grandmother came to this house as a new bride one hundred and five years ago, the house built for her by her father as a wedding present in 1920. When my mother and father married, my grandmother Margaret Lane, gave the house to Mama and Daddy, and my mama came to the house as a new bride, too. Now the house is mine and my family is enjoying the house on their visits. I’m slowly bringing her back to life. We’re making new memories and finding music in our family gatherings.

God advises us to put family first and scripture tells us to raise our children with love, teaching them that the Lord is in control of their lives, helping them through prayer and thanksgiving to find a Godly path to walk. We have to be mindful of our actions and words and show them how to be a Christian and how to put God first. Bible scripture in Proverbs and Ephesians tell us to “train up a child in the way he should go,” to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

I love the quote from Marci in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, when she says, “We should just be thankful for being together. I think that’s what they mean by Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown.” Historically, America’s first Thanksgiving originated in 1621 as a harvest feast between the Pilgrims and the native Americans known as the Wampanoag people. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. Thanksgiving means being grateful for all our blessings, reflecting on difficult times we’ve experienced and overcome, showing generosity to those less fortunate. Psalm 107:1 reads, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

God has blessed us all with so many blessings. Be grateful for another year with all the people you love. Catherine Pulsifier writes, “Give thanks not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of your life. Appreciate and never take for granted all that you have.”

“Family and friends are the true treasures of Thanksgiving.” — Unknown