Thankful

About this time just now, my North American friends are all heading to bed with contented tummies and several platefuls of leftover turkey in the fridge. Over the past couple of days, I've enjoyed seeing their Thanksgiving lists of thankfulness pop up around various internet haunts. And, although there are no pilgrim fathers, no Indians, and no candy corn here in Australia, there's always something to be thankful. So, I'm copying my friends.

Right now, I am thankful for (in no particular order):

my wee, fat nephew with two top teeth and two bottom teeth and a vocabulary that is tiny and yet still somehow includes "yay" and "book"; my utterly girly and beautiful niece who, at two-and-a-half, is already a thousand times cooler than her aunty Dee and yet still wants to borrow her necklackes; my two sisters and two brothers, who are excellent in a host of various ways and also make dorkiness cool; my parents, who make sure this buzzing circle of eleven individuals is actually a family; air-conditioning (it's maintaining my mental health right now, I'm sure of it); Christmas music; banana-and-choc-chip muffins; confusion, because it helps us to realise we can not have the answers and yet still survive; T.S. Eliot; the postman; bright nailpolish; flowers in a jar; 2010 diaries with no words in them yet; assignments completed; friends far away with whom I can just pick up where I left off, every time; evenings out; sister nights; friends near (especially ones only five minutes' drive away); the internet, because it helps me stay connected, even while confusing the whole connectedness thing; New Zealand; kind boys who restore my faith in males; public libraries; pictures that take my breath away; phone calls with my mother; pa and ma and nan; the Cosby Show; text messages; my new brother-in-law; bookdepository.co.uk (I'm their best customer); people dear to me getting married; answered prayers; people who take the time; what God has already done.

♥