Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans out there! I’ve included an image of my little turkey from last year. Hard to believe how time has flown!

Thanksgiving is such a great holiday–we get to gather with our family, express how thankful we are to have them, and eat delicious food!

I look forward every year to turkey, broccoli rice casserole, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, rolls (Sister Schubert or Hawaiian sweet bread!), and a few other dishes. My husband does all the cooking (which I am thankful for!), apart from sweet potato casserole, which is the one dish I do.

We don’t always do mashed potatoes, but we do sometimes. We often do mac ‘n cheese because the kiddos always like that – but also as a way to honor my overseas brother, who used to love mac ‘n cheese as a kid.

Before eating, we say the Garvin family prayer, which was written by a relative who died long before I was born, and then we dig in. Sometimes, we do holiday crackers and wear the paper crowns and tell each other the jokes inside. Sometimes we say what we are thankful for, but we always know what everyone wants to say: we are thankful for family. And we mean it, too.

I am so thankful for my family and appreciate all the ups and downs. Life is not easy, but when you have your family gathered around you, you know it’s worth it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Many blessings to you and your families. I would love to hear what everyone else eats at Thanksgiving! (Maybe we need to alter our menu!)