A colleague was complaining about being in a rut. Turns out the blogging rut-bug has hit the best of us. Here at Perfect Settings we are in the midst of event season. Between weddings, baby showers (cold summer?), birthday parties... you name it; we've been booked. It takes me until Tuesday to regroup and we're only halfway through... At any rate, it was suggested to blog about Thanksgiving so that's what I'll do since I have a ton to be thankful for. It used to be that when you asked a Christian; "how are you?" they would say "blessed!" but the saying has become cliche and now everyone is saying they're blessed. For crying out loud, Madonna said in this morning's paper that she's sad about her divorce but she's blessed - no, I'm not linking that one. I'm not suggesting people aren't blessed. I'm suggesting that you take stock in the word. I used to say it all of the time - actually I still do - so when my sister gifted me a ring for my 40th Birthday that says "Blessed" on it I realized how much it was that I said it. So now when people ask "how's business?" or "how are the kids" or "how's Columbia" or "how have you really been, Daisy?" I pause for a moment and consciously say "Well, when you work for yourself business can always be better but I'm truly blessed. My phone is still ringing" or "my kids have graduated and are out in the working world. They've been blessed" or "Columbia is coming along... we've been blessed with all of the special events going on" or "Daisy's good. Truly. I've been blessed... I'm in an industry where we celebrate love and life. We all have our health and I'm married to a fabulous guy." So as we all sit around the dinner table this Thursday and go around telling what we're thankful for - my kids are cringing right about now... - take stock in what way God has blessed you and be thankful. I mean really thankful. I encourage you to go into this Christmas Season without the commercial hustle and be mindful that life is full and abundant. I guarantee that Christmas will be more meaningful and you'll be better for it. Do I hear an amen?

*post script: The picture above is from a dinner party way back in May. I was supposed to blog about that in May. Better late than never. We had a blast - actually, that's where I'm going for Thanksgiving!