I think it is important to appreciate what you have and not just on Thanksgiving. It's important to remember to be grateful when your life feels abundant, but perhaps even more-so when times are hard. That said, I have some tough things going on right now and am having a hard time over here so… I want to challenge myself to remember all the things in my life for which to be grateful. I enjoyed the challenge at Let's Take the Metro a couple of years ago, so I'm going to challenge you in a similar fashion. Are you ready?

1. Even though our family is puke-tastically sick, we're having a nice quiet Thanksgiving at home.
2. We're semi-fasting for the above reason, but we have good food on hand to break our fast when we can!
3. Blackadder! Our choice of Thanksgiving Day sickbed amusement.
4. String cheese, or as Mikko calls it, octopus cheese. Because I tear the bottom apart for him like a squid-ly thing before handing it over.
5. Being able to homeschool our kids
6. Two fluffy sweet kitties who love raw meat, lap cuddles, and stepping on sleeping babies
7. The diaper service since Alrik's not up to potty independence quite yet
8. Long hair and a 6-year-old who alternately plays with and complains about it
9. Manifesting a hedgehog with Mikko by shopping for cage goodies
10. Chocolate chips
11. Floppy blonde hair
    
12. Phone games. Oh, you delightful time wasters, you.
13. Red woolen cloche
14. Long walks where I can hear the waves
15. Emails to and from my parents
16. The brief, bright life of our ill-fated sea monkeys
17. Natural Parents Network volunteers chatting on Facebook
18. Reading the words of writers wise and inspiring
19. Local friends
20. Online compatriots
21. Making progress on my writing
22. Meeting new bloggy friends
23. Chilling out with a mystery novel
24. Sneaking away for alone time with my husband (take that, kids!)
25. My six-year-old's unwavering faith
26. Paleo chocolate chip cookie dough, made with élan and no measuring like a boss
27. The opportunity to make money from writing
28. Salami
29. Indoor playspaces for chilly, drizzly winters
30. Poetry
31. People liking my jokes
32. Mummy episodes
33. Having my kids school me on popular music
34. Curling up on the couch to watch the first Harry Potter movie with Mikko and answering his bajillion questions about it and seeing that he enjoyed it
35. When my two-year-old refuses clothes all day and I can see his bones moving under his skin, but also how active and healthy he is
36. Alrik's excited pleasure about … everything
37. Working appliances
38. Thick hair that resists wetting like a beaver pelt
39. Missing teeth
    
40. One tiny tooth in my change purse
41. Beautiful photos to remember a full and happy year
42. Feeling better about transitioning into new ways of thinking
43. Our car is paid off. Boo-yah.
44. My son's devotion to nummies
45. Science experiments
46. Mikko's laborious handwriting
47. Reconnecting with their favorite (and only) cousin
48. The pirate aprons she handmade the boys
49. Fun TV shows to watch
50. Cleaning up a couple rooms
51. Anticipating working on Christmas sewing
52. Warming my hands in hot water
53. Warming my icicle feet — finally, finally — under the blankets
54. Feeling at peace with family
55. Comedians' standup on YouTube
56. Ninja Cat, which never fails to make Mikko laugh
57. Elephant and Piggie books
58. Mikko's wholly unreasonable excitement over Switch & Go Dinos, in which he makes us watch the advertising videos multiple times a day and quizzes us on what each one is called, what dino it is, and what vehicle it turns into
59. We have our health (more or less).
60. Looking forward to cream cheese dip at Christmas
61. Plans to see Frozen in a theater and smuggle in a Moist-Maker as a make-up Thanksgiving celebration
62. Snow in the forecast
63. Living in my neighborhood, with an amazing community blog that knows what's going on when I don't
64. Thanksgivukkah
65. Jigsaw puzzles
66. Mikko beating me in every card game
67. Visiting the pet store with kids like a cheap mini-zoo
68. Doing patty-cake with Alrik and having him direct
69. Remembering to speak German
70. Naps, all around
71. Finding a handyman who might someday install our sink downstairs
72. Boots to jump in puddles with!
    
73. Dangly earrings
74. Mama roller coaster
75. Planning a fun trip for the new year
76. Super Shapes!
77. Setting back up my keyboard and making music again
78. Clean sheets and fluffy duvets
79. Building a fire
80. Video chatting with the grandparents
81. In jokes
82. Sleeping all together still in one tangle on a king-size mattress
83. The comfiness of family cloth
84. Enjoying the outdoors all summer
85. Cotton
86. Delicious dreams
87. When Alrik plays kitty and brings me toys and demands pets
88. Going to open houses for million-dollar homes we have no intent or hope to buy
89. Warm showers
90. Colorful stripy shirts on little boys
    
91. Genetics at work
92. Sleeping under quilts made by my mother and my grandmother (a silver-lining side effect of both our duvets getting barfed on) and feeling the comforting weight of maternal generations on top of me
93. A Christmas tree lot that opened on my street
94. Bus rides
95. My kids' artistic creations
    
96. Looking through the doll clothes my grandmothers made me when I was a girl
97. Bubbles
98. Two-year-old Alrik, he of the Power Rangers moves and parroting adorableness
99. Mikko, 6 years' worth of charm, unending questions, excessive cheek, and snuggliness
100. My partner in homeschooling, work, and Blackadder marathons: Sam