Thanksgiving 2012 has come and gone and it's been a really wonderful one.  I was nervous about missing Gram, and we did, but our meal came together and we enjoyed our time with each other.  Jamie wasn't able to make it to my parents' house for lunch Thursday as he had to work (overtime this time of year is a good thing -- as long as it's reasonable) since they could only install this conveyer during the time the plant was on shutdown.  We missed him, but he was able to finish work early enough today to be at his mom's house for her lunch.  It's just come-and-go rather than sit-down at her house, so it didn't matter that we were a bit late.  We weren't the last ones to come in, though.  Jamie's brother didn't roll in until he came back down the hill after the Razorback game.  Actually, he left early and we all watched the final seven minutes together.  Pitiful.  And, that's all I'll say about that.

I kept up with my daily "thankful" posts on Facebook this year, and I didn't have to search too far to find things to be thankful for for days 1 -- 23.  I'll continue to keep up my counting until the end of the month.  I won't list everything here, but it isn't lost on me that I have been blessed.  When I say "I have been blessed," I hope people understand that I don't mean "life's perfect and always has been."  I can appreciate the blessings because I've lived the consequences of bad choices, the consequences of others' bad choices, random trials whose purpose isn't revealed until I've walked through them, and other seemingly random bad situations/events/people/issues.  I won't dwell on those things today, but I am always very hesitant to every say "life is great right now" because "right now" doesn't generally last very long. 

One of the ways in which God has blessed me above and beyond is in the area of praying friends whose faith encourages me. My life is generally the one that's a mess and requires much faith to see me through to the next step, but thankfully my good friends are always there with a word of encouragment.  I'm not used to being on the other side of things, but I find myself in that role right now.  As I told my dear friend Monday evening on her couch, "I have so taken to heart all the ways you've encouraged my faith, but I really don't like having to watch you life out everything you've told me."  It's just interesting to watch God work.  Even when life doesn't make sense to us, we have to trust Him. 

Wow.  That's not exactly where I intended to go with my Thanksgiving post!  I'll share pictures of the past few days in a second.  Today officially kicked off the Christmas season around here and I still have a lot of work to do to get this house all dolled up in its holiday glory.  I'm going with a simpler look this year, but that's going to require that I go out tomorrow and chop down some pine tree branches and some cedar, too.  Southern Living has instructions on how make to garland from boxwoods (of which we have PLENTY), but do I really have the time to make that?  No.  I do not.  I want to, though... 

I didn't do any Black Friday shopping (no one's list had anything I would have saved much on).  I know I've told you before that my mom's friend Betty calls BF "Amateur Day."  I tend to agree with her.  If one is a savvy shopper, one will continue to find good deals throughout the holiday season.  I'm a little excited and a little tempted to go dig through my mom's closet.  She has, on more than one occasion, mentioned the surprises she is excited about this Christmas.  Well, bring 'em on!  I like a good surprise!  I do need to sit down and make my master list and get this holiday organized, though. 

My prayer right now is that the Battles will enjoy a very sweet Christmas season.  I want it to be magical for us all -- not because of presents and Santa -- but because we really take to heart the miracle of the virgin birth and Christ's arrival on Planet Earth.  I pray that each one of us will just have our hearts knit together as we go about the season's activities.  I hope each of your families will also experience a tremendous blessing during Christmas 2012!