pumpkins gave me a new perspective

In Oct., we got some pumpkins, and I let each of the boys pick out "their" pumpkin. At our first feast activity, I brought the pumpkins for decorations. After the activity, I was just going to leave them in the woods for the animals to eat for the winter:) since we didn't need them. Another mom asked if she could take them to roast the seeds and I said yes, because I was going to leave them anyway. We didn't need pumpkins after Halloween. When the boys saw the other family's kids carrying "their" pumpkins into the other family's car, they got so mad! Todd and I tried to tell them that we were just going to throw them away anyway, so we said they could have them. Todd was trying to be nice and offered to give them money for the pumpkins. The boys said that all they wanted was the pumpkins and went on whining and complaining about it for a while.

That night Todd and I were talking about how the boys have ALL these things we do for them, and instead of being grateful, they were SO upset about these pumpkins. They couldn't just move on. I asked them if they had fun at the first feast (Todd and I spent a lot of time and money on that activity, and so did the other families), and they said no, because they lost their pumpkins.

Little did they know that the pumpkins weren't really "their" pumpkins anyway. They were given to them, but I decided when it was time to throw them out. They would have rotted in the snow outside anyway. I know more than them. I know when it's best to take them.

That's when I thought, maybe that's what Heavenly Father feels like with us. I had read a blog about a mother whose little 18 month old girl had died and thought about this post she wrote: http://patrickandashley.blogspot.com/2010/09/answers.html
Maybe Heavenly Father thinks that we don't see all of our blessings when one is taken away. But it wasn't ours in the first place, it was His to take away, because He knows what is best.

That's one of the lessons I get from the pilgrims and indians thanksgiving story. Here half of them had just died, and they were having a feast of thanksgiving for the blessings they had received.
I love Thanksgiving and being able to focus on gratitude. I want to try and keep the gratitude spirit through Christmas as well. We'll write thank you letters to Santa.