{One Last Thankful List}

Maybe you all are getting sick of my Thankful lists, but here's one last list in honor of the final day of November........

• Christmas Shopping~ I finally started and I feel less stressed now. Granted I have more to do, but I always feel better once I actually get a good start. Derrick and I headed north on Saturday and got a lot done. What can I say, we make a good team! I have to shout out a big THANKS to Lis and Jer for keeping our kids, on a non school day no less. If you know our kids, and especially all six of them together, you know that we really owe them!
• Thanksgiving~ With everything going on in our lives and all the changes around us, it's easy for me to get discouraged. But, if I remember to look at all that I have to be thankful for and focus on that, I feel much better. Hopefully, I can keep the spirit of Thanksgiving in our home all year.
• Melatonin~ I'm not sure how much I've written about our sleep dramas with Carlie lately, but it's been a long month or two. For some reason she has been either getting up in the middle of the night (like 3 or 4) and wanting to play, or staying up until between eleven and twelve each night. We've tried lots of different things, nothing worked until we tried Melatonin. It's a natural substance our body makes helping us to sleep. It's worked wonders! Carlie has been in bed and asleep by nine the last five nights, YIPPIE! I'm hoping that we can use this to get her adjusted to a normal sleep routine.
• Sunday Naps~ Is there anything better after a long day at church? Sunday is a day of rest, right?
• Christmas Music and Memories~ Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year and it was my Grandma Ainge's VERY favorite time of year. She loved the lights, the food, giving and family, but most of all she loved the music and she taught all of us to love Christmas music. Some of my favorite memories are of my mom, all her sisters and the granddaughters around Grandma's piano as she played for us. Silver Bells was on the radio the other day and I cried, I've missed hearing my Grandma play that beautiful song (no one plays it like she did). This Christmas day it will be three years since she passed away and I'm truly thankful for all the wonderful memories I have of her.