Traditions.... Meant for Keeping?

Every year at Thanksgiving, our family would gather around the table and have the same meal with family and friends.  Every Thanksgiving is a joyful and wonderful little memory that I have to look back on whenever I want.  It's nice having traditions.  Pumpkin and pecan pies, smoked turkey made by Dad, beets (that no one ever seems to eat), sprite mixed with cranberry juice.  Then the traditional activities, like polar bear plunge.  These are all wonderful memories.

But this year is different.

This year I do not get to go home with my family in Missouri.  This year I have the chance to spend time with my wonderful family from Utah....  Only we are heading out to San Diego, California!  I've never been anywhere west of Utah, so I am excited for this chance.  An added bonus is the time I get to spend with my aunt, uncle, and cousins.  A negative?  I don't get to see my parents or siblings.  Even my brother at college with me is heading up to Washington with his fiance.  This is the first year without my parents and siblings.

But I am ready to try this.  I am trying to be optimistic--I mean, it is California!  This will be a large step on being more independent.  Besides, I'm sealed to my family, so I get eternity with them, right?  I love having that knowledge.  Somehow, it makes me feel closer to them even though we'll be miles apart over the holidays.  I think traditions are meant for keeping, but sometimes you just have to start some new ones.

Seeing that this is Thanksgiving time, and I might not be able to blog until after Thanksgiving, I'd like to list some things and people that I am grateful for in my life.

I am grateful for God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, my family--all of them, the gospel, my roommates, my friends, my jobs, BYU, my testimony, the atonement, the first presidency and all general authorities, life, traditions, music, adventures, love, and faith.  I am grateful for so much more, but I feel that this short list covers most of it.  I am grateful to be on this earth at this time and experiencing all that I have and will experience.