Thank Christ for that!!

So here I sit in my poor torn country. Ok you might say, it's only a bleedin' recession, not a nuclear disaster or anything, and you'd be right, to be fair. It feels very sad though, to think that those we choose to lead our people care so little about them that they would allow this travesty to happen. This beautiful land of mine, that I love so very much. I can't imagine why anyone would want to do this to her. But that's enough of that! I imagine in many Irish houses there's a nerd bent over a laptop, spilling out vitriol about the whole sorry mess. Many more besides I'm sure are trawling through news feeds, blogs, what have you, looking for the next piece of news, that will, undoubtedly make their blood boil. I'm sick of it to be honest!

Today is Thanksgiving in the US, or what's left of it (I'm burning the midnight oil here a little) All over the states, and elsewhere I'm sure, families are holding full tummies and fighting amongst themselves over the remote control. Earlier they feasted and they told each other what they were thankful for. It's a lovely idea really, one I think we should all adopt, if not in a hallmark occasion kind of way.

So here it is, my little list of things to be thankful for:

• I am thankful that I somehow managed to marry a man who, as well as being all that I could wish for, can still, after 10 years as a couple, make me laugh so much that clean underwear is often required.

• I am thankful that I can proudly say my daughter is growing into a fantastic person, that she is so very talented, funny, sweet, clever, and so much more. I can hardly wait to meet the wonderful woman she will undoubtedly become.

• I am thankful for my son who, on a daily basis, reminds me that real joy is found in the smallest, most seemingly insignificant things. For the true bliss I feel when I look at his shining little face.

• I am thankful for the friends that I have around me, and those who are further afield, but who thanks to the wonders of facebook, can still make me laugh on a regular basis.

• I am thankful for Snappy (Ok so I couldn't come up with another name, I'm working on it) So very thankful that I know I can tell her anything, and no matter how completely weird it may be, she will just get it, somehow. That she says the most outrageously wonderful things, just at the right moment, to make us all pee ourselves. That she shares her talents with me, and lets me help her share them with the world.

• I am thankful for Delia (again, working on it!!) That we seem so different but we just fit perfectly together somehow, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. That I know she'll always be there for me, and will calmly organise me when I'm all a fluster. So thankful for our little texts in the mornings and our email chatter, our nights out and chats over cups of tea. That things seems to be falling into place for her in ways she maybe doesn't even know yet.

• I am thankful for my family. For my mum, who I can't go a day without nattering to and who has a solution to every problem, no matter how insurmountable. My dad, our punning wars, his old seafarer way of looking at everything and a good old pint in Peggy's. My aunts, who are all batty in their own individual ways but who just happen to be some of the nicest and wisest people you could hope to meet. My entire family-in-law which is made up of a hell of a lot of people, who's names I still have trouble remembering at times but who are all fantastic in their own ways. Finally, all the children we have been lucky enough to welcome into our family over the last few years, and those on the way. It's always a joy to watch them grow and see their little personalities emerge.

And lastly, we come full circle. I am thankful for my country, her people, her culture, so diverse, so ancient, so full of the craic. Ireland is a most beautiful place to live. We may complain, and certainly recently we have plenty of reason to, but we have to remember, we are blessed to be her children, at the end of the day, her grass is much greener than anyone else's. So even when I have to listen to the anger of the callers on the radio, to the worries of my husband, the crack in my mothers voice as she tells me how all their retirement plans are scuppered, I love this place, and I wouldn't swap it for the world.