Grateful

Megan and I were driving earlier today and talking about today's holiday as well as the coming holidays next month. Some loved ones had asked if there was anything we needed as they do their Christmas shopping, so we were thinking about it. Everything we came up with, though, was a "want" instead of a "need". It was a great reminder of how blessed we really are. We have so much to be thankful for.

Last year we decided to make a playlist of Thanksgiving songs (which really means songs about gratitude) and it has been wonderful to listen to often for the last few weeks. It's probably a little late, but here are the songs:
-Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, sung by Freddy Ashby (who is the son of my mission president)
-Grateful (featuring Brian Stokes Mitchell)/The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
-My God, My Portion, and My Love/The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
-Prayer of Thanksgiving/Peter Breinholt
-Thou Gracious God, Whose Mercy Lends/The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
-Hymn of Nature/Jon Schmidt
-Thankful/Josh Groban
-How Can I Keep from Singing?/Eva Cassidy
-Brother James' Air/The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
-What About?/Peter Breinholt
-Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep/The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
-On My Front Porch Looking In/Lonestar
-For the Beauty of the Earth/The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
-Some Folks' lives Roll Easy/Paul Simon
-Laughing With/Regina Spektor
-Homeless/Voicemale
-Prayer of the Children/Voicemale
-Game in the Aspens (Five Canyon Impressions)/Robert Cundick

It is assuredly the only playlist in the world that features the Motab, Regina Spektor, and my grandpa. We're grateful for good music.

We're grateful for our jobs, that give us a chance to learn, to associate with great people, and to serve others.
We're grateful for our apartment, and the chance to live with my grandparents and learn from them.
We're grateful for our puppy, who keeps us smiling.
We're grateful for wonderful parents and families, who continue to teach us.
We're grateful for dear friends, both new and old.
We're grateful for the little things in life. Gas station runs for diet sodas and hi-chews, date nights at Training Table, board games, projects around the house, Psych, house plants, musicals, football, Netflix, crafts, new tires, forever lazies, comedy, good books, pumpkin cheesecake bars, our callings, washers and dryers, gas logs, Wreck-it Ralph. etc etc.

Most of all, we're grateful for our testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We're grateful for our temple marriage and eternal ties to those we love. We're grateful for our Savior who made it all possible and for our Father in Heaven, from whom flow all the blessings, big and small, that we enjoy each day. We must be the luckiest people alive.