Happy Thanksgiving! (Canada)

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it" ~ William Arthur Ward

Today is Thanksgiving: a day we explicitly voice our gratefulness and count our many blessings. Implicitly we do it anyhow, but it is with a sense of calm and happiness when we can sit down with our family and thank for the many blessings of our life.

This year we kept is low-key (our best friends were working all weekend, my husband too, and the only part of the family that's on this side of the Ocean left for a well-deserved birthday vacation) - so we found ourselves around a monster (I couldn't find a normal turkey this year, I don't even want to know what did they feed the huge 30 pounders I got!), enumerating what we are thankful for:

First came, of course, family & friends. Followed closely by health, the very food in front of our eyes, shelter, happiness.

What best to describe all of the above than the symbol of the Tree of Life? Not mine, this time, I have one in the works and it's patiently waiting its turn - the one I am presenting here is made by my mom, as a gift for my family. She made a few versions, the one on display is the Quartz one.

Quartz crystals are most common rocks on earth. They can come in many colour, however the purest version is the colourless one - as it contains no impurity (other minerals to change its colour). It can have many meanings - the one I like the most is the symbol of a person, in this case the entire family. The tree's roots remind me where I am coming from and its branches help me to get where I need to go next.

The Tree of Life is a universal symbol: of wisdom, protection, beauty, abundance, strength, and grace. It is a reminder that we must care and nurture all we love if we want to see it grow: a relationship, a child, a flower! It is also a reminder of the inner strength we possess and we rarely use (unless in dire need); like the splendid tree growing on the most remote rock up on the mountain, or like the grass blades coming through the asphalt: we always look for the light and our inner will always know how to get there. We must only trust ourselves.

On this Thanksgiving day I am grateful for our family (close by or far away) and their (tender) love & care, for our friends and their words of encouragement, and for the every-day miracles (small and large).

What are you thankful for?