We do not celebrate Thanksgiving Day here in New Zealand. I know gratitude is something that should be on our mind everyday, but it’s nice to have at least one day specifically for being thankful, don’t you think? I feel like all countries in the world should have a Thanksgiving Day.
In the movies, aside from the enormous amount of food that Americans put out on Thanksgiving Day, some families also have a tradition of going around the table and each person saying what they are grateful for. Sometimes, verbalizing your thoughts makes it more real and if you are grateful to a person, isn’t it nice to let that person know?
Today, I’m sharing with you my Thanksgiving list, and I hope you have one too:
I am thankful for living in New Zealand because it’s response to the pandemic has been one of the best in the world. When the pandemic started, I was anxious about how this will affect myself and my family, but we’ve come out of it better than other countries. It has not been perfect, but we’ve had a very low rate of cases and mortality. We don’t even need to go around in masks, and we can travel around the country.
I am thankful for my family’s health. We’ve only had that two weeks where all of us stayed in the house together with flu-like symptoms, and thankfully, we’ve had no major health scares this year.
I am thankful for Netflix, and the Internet and Social Media because it’s provided much needed distraction (sometimes too much. ?) , inspiration and information in these pandemic times. This year I’ve learned a lot of new things by watching documentaries and movies that I would not have otherwise have access to.
I am thankful for friends in New Zealand. Since we don’t have related family here, they’ve become our family over here. We meet regularly, sharing encouraging words and food (lots of food).
I am thankful for my job right now, although it’s a short-term one, because I’ll at least be able to save some money for the coming period when I’ll be taking a break again. The people are so nice to work with and the environment is supportive to working parents.
I am thankful for my husband for being the most patient person ever, especially this year as we navigated work and family life through the pandemic. He was so supportive when I said I was going to quit my previous job early this year, as I didn’t feel that I could focus on working from home and taking care of the girls at the same time. He just let me take a break until I felt ready to work again.
That’s just a few of the things that I am so very thankful for this year. I hope that before we run off to look for Black Friday sales, we take some time to think about the people and things that we are grateful to have in our lives.
