A Day of Gratitude and Turkey

I know I'm a few days late.  Thanksgiving was Thursday and here it is Saturday.  I know it was sooo two days ago and it's not hip to write about it now.  But, I just had to share some things I'm thankful for, as well as some fun adventures I've had over the last couple days.

I'm thankful for modern technology
It's funny.  I hate airplanes.  They are incredibly uncomfortable.  The temperature is too hot.  The seats are too small.  The food isn't very good. But yet, I fly on them anyway.  Why is that?  We could have driven to California to see my in-laws.  But that would take too much time and I'd rather of the convenience of sitting on an uncomfortable plane for 2 hours.

Sometimes I think we take the blessings of modern technology for granted.  150 years ago, it would have taken several months for us to pull a handcart from Utah to California.  There would be no short Thanksgiving trips.  Today we whine because we have to turn off our cell phones on a plane, or because they charge us extra to watch a movie.  We have so many blessings that we get cranky because our blessings aren't more convenient.  (Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind a more comfortable seat, but I'm grateful we have the ability to fly across the country relatively cheaply.)

I'm thankful for cool gadgets
For Thanksgiving dinner this year I was the CPO (Chief Peeling Officer) I was in charge of peeling various items from apples to sweet potatoes.  Peeling the apples was the most fun.  I got to use this cool medieval torture device.

I'm sure Jack Bauer would use this device to get terrorists to reveal the location of the nuclear bomb.  My job was not quite that interesting (but at the same time, it was more awesome.)  I was in charge of placing an apple on the device and torturing the apple until it had no more peel.  Afterward, it was important for Robyn and I to reveal how precious we were by doing the Lady and the Tramp strategy with an apple peel.

I know our preciousness is hard to handle.

I'm thankful for fun puzzles
My sister-in-law made the mistake of letting her children read her high school yearbook.  There was a particular individual who wrote some embarrassing things that they found amusing.  They told me about it and I was also amused.  We decided we needed to see a picture of him, but they couldn't remember his last name and she wouldn't tell us.  This limited information made for an excellent puzzle.  It involved doing some calculations to figure out what year she graduated, googling the class of that year, figuring out his name and then finding him on facebook.  I'm thankful for fun nieces and nephews that help me play fun puzzle solving games and I'm also thankful for tolerant sisters-in-law who tolerate me egging on her children.

I'm thankful for mashed potatoes
They're awesome.

I'm thankful for fanciness
I'm used to large family gatherings with numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, long lost relatives, strangers, lost tribes of Israel and so on.  This year Thanksgiving with Robyn's parents was much more intimate.  There were only 6 of us which allowed us to have a much smaller, more intimate and more fancy setting.

It is a well known fact that I'm not fancy but luckily, family loves me enough to not begrudge my lack of fanciness within a fancy setting.

All in all, it's been a great Thanksgiving and a great trip.  When I think about the first Thanksgiving, where many of them had starved to death and many of the others weren't sure what hardships tomorrow would bring, I find myself very grateful for the life I live.  I'm grateful for wonderful family and friends.  Happy Thanksgiving!