Okay, I have recovered from Thanksgiving.  It was everything I thought it would be and more.  There were indeed seventy one people there in one home at one time.  Yikes, it was noisy at times–most of the time, except when Thanksgiving prayer was said.  At one time there was a group of six children playing “Ring Around A Rose” in the middle of the room while adults visited on sofas surrounding the children and chairs here and there with teens laughing and visiting.  The noise level was pretty high.  I decided that people lose their hearing as the age out of self defense.

I told you I would report on Amy’s behavior.  Well, she did really well through the meal, as far as I could tell, but when she was asked to ad lib by interpreting her niece’s German, she got really close to the edge.  I told her later that her resolution to use restraint didn’t quite make it.  Then she told me how close she had come to asking her niece’s boyfriend some pretty embarrassing questions and had restrained herself.  Okay, that’s one for you, Amy, and I am grateful.  Keep working on it and maybe next year you won’t embarrass anyone at all.  We adore Amy.  She can be the life of the party.  Every family needs one.

Little two year old Tomas came down with the chicken pox two days before Thanksgiving and sent us all scurrying to find out how that would affect the attendance.  It turned out that there were several children whose parents didn’t want them exposed  so Tomas and his dad spent the day in the master bedroom with the TV, their own private dinner and naps.  Dad was the only one who got to watch football.  Tomas is such a fun little boy.  One of these days I’ll tell you about his adoption.

I got a snapshot of each family.  There was too much food and too little time, but the pictures will bring back very fond memories of Thanksgiving 2009.

Maybe part of our success was because the night before, I pre journaled my day.  I wrote about Thanksgiving Day in the past tense before it happened.  It worked out just as planned.  More on pre journaling your day in a later blog.

I am a big fan of journaling in general.  It doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving to write what you are grateful for.  How about doing it now?   Be sure to check in again so you don’t miss a thing.

I love my life!  I hope you love your life, too!

Check out “About Renae” above and leave a comment below.  Le’s get acquainted.  I’m going to be around for a long time and hope you will, too.

Go to my website http://www.womenlovinglifeworldwide.com and receive “A Handbook For Women—Celebrate Your Strengths And Live Your Highest Purpose”.  I hope to see you soon.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and here I am thinking of my family and WomenLovingLifeWorldwide.  I know that everyone in the world doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, but I am still thankful for all of you.  I believe in women.  I believe we are better women when we are celebrating our strengths and living our highest purpose. Thinking about what I am grateful for is one of the ways I celebrate every day and especially tomorrow.  I hope you do, too.

I look out the window at the beautiful snow capped Wasatch Mountains  How could I be so blessed to see God’s glory all around me?  I am not really fond of cold weather, but it comes in a package along with the breathtaking landscape.  My long underwear bridges the gap nicely.

I think of how my brilliant, beautiful and handsome teen age grandchildren just came by to load up their dad’s pickup truck with tables and chairs for our Thanksgiving dinner at their home tomorrow.  There will be seventy people of all ages there.  The youngest isn’t quite a year old and the oldest–well, it is my husband Dale who is three years older than I am, making him only 73.  I just heard him come in with sacks of groceries.  He said someone kept whispering in his ear as he went from crowded store to more crowded store.  It kept saying, “You’re crazy!  You’re crazy.”  And then he forgot to get the bread!  He’s off again.

Dale roasts one turkey and makes multiple pans of dressing.  Lots of work is going into feeding and entertaining that many people in one house.  Everyone is pitching in.

there will be three turkeys, using different recipes, and numerous pies.  The Crockett’s lovely home will be bursting at the seams but it will nicely accommodate all of us.

The guys will enjoy the Turkey Bowl at noon.  We’ll have a rousing talent show between dinner and dessert.  Our college grandson does stand-up comedy and the two year olds turn summersaults.  There will be music and poems in between.  I am taking piano lessons so I get to do my part this year.  I am very nervous.  Who could ask for a better celebration?

It will be over before we know it, but our minds and hearts will be full of memories–good and, well, who knows?  It can be a bit unpredictable with that many children, teens, young adults and parents together.  I won’t make believe that nothing is said or done to make anyone uncomfortable.  In fact, my daughter, Amy, has been working on not doing just that.  Do you have someone in your family who tends to say something disturbing around certain family members.  “I don’t even know why I do it,” she said the other day, “It just comes out.”  Knowing that she is conscious of what she is doing gives me hope for this year.  I’ll let you know what happens later.

Celebrating Thanksgiving like this happens every other year.  We all have our unique and special celebrations.  Some bring joy and some bring pain.  I admit it.  I also know that I can choose be grateful for whatever part of it that I wish and let go of the rest.  I can’t control anyone but me.  I can control my thoughts. I choose to think that tomorrow will be our best Thanksgiving celebration ever.

I love my life!  I hope you love your life, too!

Check out “About Renae” above and leave a comment below.  Le’s get acquainted.  I’m going to be around for a long time and hope you will, too.

Go to my website http://www.womenlovinglifeworldwide.com and receive “A Handbook For Women—Celebrate Your Strengths And Live Your Highest Purpose”.  I hope to see you soon.

I was excited to turn seventy this year.  Some of my seventy year old friends think I am nuts.  That’s okay, because when you are seventy other people’s opinions don’t matter so much.

Why would anyone want to be seventy in an era when Social Security isn’t secure and the health care rug may be pulled out from under us at any moment?  I’ll tell you why.

• I am thrilled to be married to my sweetheart of fifty one years. Now, nobody said he was always sweet or that I always had heart, but we are together and happier than we have ever been.  During the hard times, we wanted to give up.  I am so glad we stuck it out so we could enjoy life together now.

• I am grateful for our ten children who are all married with families of their own. Did I say, they never gave us grief or that we don’t worry about our grandchildren and their future?  No, but I  choose to minimize the grief and pray they do too.  There is so much good to focus on.  We spend time loving and being actively involved with each grandchild in hopes they will remember us and what we did together.  We know our family is forever.  We count on them to make us proud grandparents.

• I have learned that good health is an investment worth making early in life. Fortunately, I grew up on a farm where we ate what we grew, so I got off to a good start.  I married a man who was willing to eat my healthy cooking over the years.  We had at least one sit down meal a day and almost everything was made from scratch.  I cooked and I taught my children to cook.  It is harder for them to carry on the tradition because there is so much processed food available, however they are still head and shoulders above most of the population.  I have told myself for years that “I eat right, look great and feel terrific.” and I do.  You can decide to get healthy and stay healthy no matter your age.

• Spirituality brings peace. When I was fifteen I decided to question some of the spiritual practices I had been raised with.  My family had knelt in family prayer every evening and many mornings for my whole life.  I knelt by my bedside every night in personal prayer.  I knew the power of prayer, but I decided to boycot God. I quit praying for a month.  I don’t know how He felt about it, but that is as long as I could take it.  I apologized and got back on my knees.  I don’t know what I would have done over the years without praying frequently—often many times a day.  I know God loves me and wants the best for me.  He guides me when I will listen and comforts me when I don’t.  There is no better friend anywhere.  It’s never too late to befriend God.

This is just a beginning of the list of things I love about aging in this spectacular era.  There is so much beauty and abundance available to anyone who wants it.  All it takes is to recognize and be grateful for it.

We are the wise ones of the world. I don’t say that lightly.  There is so much confusion when it comes to values and families especially.  We are the ones who need to hold up the standards of the past and lead the younger generations out of confusion and into the safety of our love and wisdom.  These are the gifts that come with age.  They need us and we need to share our wisdom and love every day.

I love being seventy and I will love each year forever.  I fully expect to love being ninety and even one hundred.  Why not plan for the best and accept what comes? The reward is a blessed and happy life.  It is mine and yours for the asking.

I love my life!  I hope you love your life, too!

Check out “About Renae” above and leave a comment below.  Le’s get acquainted.  I’m going to be around for a long time and hope you will, too.

Go to my website http://www.womenlovinglifeworldwide.com and receive “A Handbook For Women—Celebrate Your Strengths And Live Your Highest Purpose”.  I hope to see you soon.