Thanksgiving...

This will be the first year in a few that I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving in any shape or form and I'm feeling a little bit sad about that.

I know I'm English, but I've celebrated Thanksgiving for the past 5 years for two main reasons:

• My friends and I all tend to do our own thing at Christmas. We're not located near to one another, so getting together at all over the Christmas period is just not possible. So, we started getting together in November instead.
• I like the sentiment behind Thanksgiving. Most of us are all too quick to bemoan the things we're not happy with in our life, and there are very few of us who perhaps count our blessings on a regular basis. I like, at this time of year, to take some time to think about the things in my life that I am grateful for.

This year, we are getting together next Sunday at least, although I'm not playing hostess this time.

In previous years, I have tried to recreate an American Thanksgiving as close as I can. We cut out leaf shapes and string them together for decoration, and I have pottery turkey place settings for the table. I have even made candied yams, although these have been a little too sweet for the English palate! My cornbread rolls always go down very well though.

We take time out around the table to each share something that we are thankful for (I shall be sharing mine on Thursday).

I went on a Leadership course a few years' ago with work, and one of our exercises was that we all had to write down 20 things each day that made us happy or grateful. 20 is probably excessive, but I am going to try to put together a special list for Thursday. It certainly helps in terms of having a more positive attitude to life, and helps us deal with the daily annoyances by focusing on the bigger picture.

So, while I'll miss out on the feast this year (and probably just as well!!), I'll still be thinking about the sentiment.