Thanksgiving is a holiday I look forward to every year. I cherish the time to be thankful for our many blessings and reflect on the past year. And this year was a fantastic Thanksgiving celebration with my family! We started off Thanksgiving day by going to my home church, Newkirk Reformed Church, to give thanks and share the blessings of 2012 with our church family.

This year we even had a special visitor at church ready with a Thanksgiving blessing (or proclamation!). It was Abraham Lincoln himself…or Stan De Haan, the exact replica of our late President.

After church I got to see two of my childhood best friends. So many memories with these two. Love these girls! Anna is expecting and is due in only two weeks. I can’t wait to meet Baby B at Christmas!

After church we headed home to a feast prepared by my mom. She is such a good cook! We gathered around the table with some of my immediate family and my aunt and some of my uncles. What a great way to spend the day…fellowship over food!

After lunch we took in some football, and then finished the afternoon with some delicious pumpkin cake made by my sister-in-law!

We completed the night with the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. It wasn’t my movie pick (or my mom’s), but it made my dad happy. And I got a big tub of popcorn and a large Cherry Coke out of the deal, so it wasn’t half bad.

There are so many things to be thankful for in 2012. It’s been a crazy year — pretty sure it’s been the fastest year of my life! So grateful and blessed for all the things in my life…both big and small. And over the next year I am going to challenge myself to be more intentional and give thanks for at least one thing each day…to continue being grateful year round.

How did you celebrate Thanksgiving? What are you thankful for this year?

xoxo,
Angela