Thanksgiving has now passed. The Christmas season is approaching fast. With this comes the end of yet another year–this year having been a momentous one, and entering into new. What was there to be thankful for this year? What am I personally thankful for? This year has been filled with exciting moments: graduation, summer trips, starting college. However, it has contained some bad: Ms. Minniehan’s death, Nana’s surgery, Caleb’s death……. During the holiday season, it is sometimes difficult to find things to be thankful for, but most of the time, the good can, and does outweigh the bad.

There’s the obvious and cliche–“I am thankful for my family, my friends, my house….etc…” But thanks should go much further than that. I am thankful for the laughs my sisters and brother give to me. I am thankful for the support, love and care my family shows me; grateful am I for each of their very unique and different personalities. I am thankful for the love they fill me with, for being there for me when I need them, for loving and accepting me for who I am. Without them, I would be nothing.

I am thankful for my friends because not only are they my friends, they do their best to love and support me as much as my family does. Friendship is so very important, it can often times be underestimated. Thank you my friends for being there for me when I needed you.

I am also grateful for the home I live in, the roof over my head to keep out the rain, the heat that keeps me warm in the winter, the air conditioning that keeps me cool in the summer. I am grateful for the sturdy walls that separate each room. I am thankful for the windows that allow me to look outside and see God’s earth blooming in the spring, the hot sun beaming in the summer, changing colors of trees in the fall, and snow falling in the winter. For the floors I walk on top, the oven I use to cook and bake with, the freezer and refrigerator that holds the food–all of it I am thankful for.

For the blessings of food and drink I put in my body each day I am thankful. God has given us so many different varieties of food, although sometimes seeming silly, is true. Italian is my favorite and I am always especially thankful for it!

I am grateful for the opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle and be whoever it is that I want to be. I am thankful for the freedom of choice and free will that I have. Thankful am I to have been born in and live in a free country. God Bless America!

Not only am I thankful for these things, I am thankful for the roles people have played in my life and for the roles they have played in others. For the police men and firefighters that protect each day, the soldiers risking their lives, sometimes giving up their own lives to ensure our freedom living in so grand a country, the singers and the actors and actresses that entertain us each day in movies and on television and on the radio, the teachers that instill an education in us all the days of our lives, I am truly thankful. I am thankful towards the doctors that work to save lives each day, the bankers that take care of our money, for coaches that teach us and strive to get the best out of us, for our co-workers, fellow students, and even the passerby on the road and on the sidewalks that say a simple “hello”, or “Happy Thanksgiving” sometimes making our entire day. For the priests and missionaries that show us examples of maybe what we want to become one day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I am thankful for my hopes and dreams that inspire me to be what I want to be, for the motivation they instill in me. Thankful am I to the people that support my hopes and dreams and help to make them reality!

I am thankful for golf because it has opened so many doors for me. It has taught me a lot about myself and others and of many lessons in life as well. Never could I let it go. I treasure this gift.

Even in death, as hard as it is to accept, I am thankful for having known those that passed away and for the impacts they have had in my life. I wouldn’t be who I am had I not known them, so thanks to them also. May you rest in peace. I know you are happy in Heaven! Thank you for the difference you made in my life!

I am grateful for everyone on the entire Earth for everyone plays a distinct role in this world. Each of us has a destiny to fulfill–God knows that destiny and will take care of you!! There may be people we dislike or do not get along with but each person shapes the person we become in some way, shape or form. Each person we meet teaches us something different.

Sometimes, it’s not the things we have we should be thankful for but for the things that lie beneath. Love, truth, compassion, caring, giving, laughter, inspiration, motivation……and so much more. Cherish them….

Things are things, but the ones that are of value such as the above, are the most important. Thankful am I for my faith and for being Catholic but the most enduring and most important thing I am thankful for this year is God and for being baptized in the Holy Spirit. God is love, God is truth, compassion, caring, giving, laughter, inspiration, motivation…..and more. He shows us the way to be and without Him, there would be nothing to be thankful for at all.

Thank you! God bless all of you!