Today I give thanks, 2011

In the United States, today is Thanksgiving Day. Last year for Thanksgiving I wrote this post where I listed 53 things for which I am grateful. As I said then, a healthy percentage of us will spend the day with family and/or friends. We'll eat too much, watch some TV (football!), and hopefully even spend some time counting our blessings.
In what has now become tradition, tomorrow, Friday, another healthy percentage of us will run out the door at some freakishly early hour to spend tons of money. Because despite how grateful we may be today, apparently we still don't have enough stuff.

I hate shopping (unless it's for fabric!) and I hate crowds. I'll be hibernating at my parents' house.

Last year, since I was 53 years old, I decided to list 53 things for which I was grateful. This year I've edited the list a little to reflect some of the changes in my life. And I added one since I'm a year older. In the order in which they occurred to me:

1. My husband.
2. My son.
3. My parents, siblings, and their families.
4. My in-laws, including my husband's siblings and their families. We were supposed to visit them for Christmas this year, but circumstances have caused us to change our plans. I'll miss seeing them. It's been too long.
5. Despite various health issues, my parents are still living independently.
6. This blog and the online friends I have made.
7. My smartphone. I am addicted to the Internet.
8. My Pfaff 7530. 17 years old and still a workhorse, although it had to pay a visit to the hospital last month.
9. My Brother PQ 1500-S which makes machine quilting a dream and kept me from going crazy while my Pfaff was in the hospital.
10. My BFF MJ.
11. My QBFFs AM and TB.
12. Mary Balogh's A Summer to Remember--the book that re-ignited my love of the Romance Novel.
13. Mary Balogh's Heartless--still my favorite.
14. Jesus Christ.
15. The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies. Sigh. Wish I could have added the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies to this.
16. The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies.
17. Penn State. This is hard. My alma mater has been shattered by men who chose to protect the status quo rather than expose a child predator. Some of the best years of my life were spent at Penn State. I met my husband there. Penn State is so much more than football or our ex-coach. I hope someday we can remember that.
18. Social networking.
19. My home. 
20. My fabric stash.
21. Chocolate.
22. Peanut Butter.
23. Weight Watchers.
24. Those 86 lbs. I lost in 2005-2006. I've gained some of it back, but have managed to keep most of it off.
25. Insulin.
26. A stable, steady job and an employer that lets me work only 30 hours/week.
27. Libraries.
28. Old friends.
29. New friends.
30. All those quilt ideas running around in my brain.
31. Summer days when the temperature goes over 90.
32. Snow days.
33. Mike Schmidt.
34. Sean Connery.
35. Flannel sheets.
36. Home-grown tomatoes.
37. My Kindle. I've read quite a few wonderful ebooks that I wouldn't have been able to read without it.
38. The Internet.
39. Twitter. I rarely tweet, but I do enjoy the tweets of those I follow.
40. Google. Yeah, I know, they want to rule the earth. But still....
41. Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. What fun places to shop.
42. Volkswagon. In the last 30 years I have owned and driven just 3 VW diesels. Can you say 45+ MPG? A total of 425,000 miles.
43. ESPN.
44. XM Satellite radio.
45. Diet Coke.
46. Mexican restaurants.
47. Enjuvia--best drug ever.
48. Music. I love Smooth Jazz, especially Chris Botti.
49. Yellowstone National Park.
50. Christmas lights.
51. Leftover turkey.
52. Romance authors who write the books that enrich my life.
53. High-Def TV.
54. The book that came out this past year from the contest that made me a winner: It Happened One Season.

Happy Thanksgiving!