I am Counting My Blessings, Are YOU?

As the whirlwind of Thanksgiving and Black Friday start to swirl around us, I have to take a minute to think about what blessings are around every day. Social Networking sites are posting Thankful November, and many are participating, but do we live in an attitude of gratitude here in NH? We have so many things in our area that make it such an amazing place to live that you can't help but become accustomed to the view, which is really a blessing. 

We live in a state that you can get from the city to the mountains and from the lakes to the ocean in just a few hours. The air is fresh and crisp, the skies are filled with stars at night, and the waters run clean and clear. There is beauty and serenity around us if we are willing to take a minute to breathe and to look at it and REALLY look.

This past weekend, I was invited to take part in a fund-raising Festival of Trees in Barnstead in the lower Lakes Region, and this all came flooding back to me. Guy and Barbara Comtois, owners of Sticks and Stones Farm on White Oak Road opened their farm to provide a great family holiday event that supported local business as well as local families. The event included horse drawn wagon rides, toasted marshmallows, cider, cookies and carollers as well as a tour through decorated Christmas trees. The event went to benefit MyBreastCancerStories.org and Lakes Region Child Advocacy Center. What a great way to kick off the holiday season without the commercialism that seems so frequent in our world today.

The generous nature of the Comtois family was a reminder of good old fashion New England neighbor helping neighbor mentality and what the holidays should really be about. The countless hours that they spent first organizing the event and then hosting it renews the faith that even in a rough economic time, that you can still give of yourself to help others.

So this week as the hustle and bustle is looming, I am counting my blessings that I live in a state that has folks in it like the Comtois family, that supports small business owners and families who need a helping hand. That we live with an physical environment that provided a breathtaking view of the shooting stars on Saturday and Sunday nights and that our culture is still one where it is about gathering together as families (both biological and choice based) to share a meal and hopefully a laugh, a smile and a memory. 

Copies of the image above are available for purchase by contacting janet@mandmphotoNH.com.