Monday: 10,396
Tuesday: 10,384
Wednesday: 12,300
Thursday: 6587
​Friday: 12,081

Do you usually get up and go shopping on Black Friday? (I know this year things may be different). 

I used to get up and go, especially if there was a good sale on something I really wanted. I will never forget the year that Wal-Mart had computers on sale and Tom and I got up and went about 3:00 a.m. and posted ourselves right by the computers to get one. We were visiting my family for the weekend, so we were in Altus. We got our computer lol. 

The last time I went was 2011, the year that Wal-Mart decided to start their "Black Friday" on Thanksgiving evening. That experience was so awful and so ridiculous, that I decided I wasn't doing it ever again. They had a coffeepot on sale and we needed a new one. I decided I'd have been better off paying full price lol. 

However you are celebrating today, I hope you each have a blessed and wonderful day! 

This week's update:

Walk 25 minutes a day/9,000-10,000 steps five days a week: I walked everyday and got my 10,000 steps five of the seven days. 

Post in blog and Facebook group: I did this every day. 

Tracking food and blood sugar: Did this every day

Fruits/veggies: I met my goal on this five of the seven days

Work on classes: I did this five of the seven days 

De-clutter: four of the seven days

Private goal: Six of the seven days

Does your family have certain Thanksgiving traditions that they observe most years? 

For our family, one of our traditions is fried okra. "It's not Thanksgiving unless we have fried okra" is said almost ever year lol. 

We also started a semi-tradition a few years ago when Josh was living in Colorado and came home at Thanksgiving, but not at Christmas. We call it Thanksmas and we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas all on the same day. I think it's really enjoyable because it takes a lot of the pressure off actual Christmas because we already have one family celebration done. We don't do it every year, but it is fun the years we do it.

​What are some of your traditions? 

Monday: 10,652
Tuesday: 11,139
Wednesday: 10,350
Thursday: 10,453
Friday: 10,367

​You were my true love,
Missing you goes on and on.
It will never end. 

This is a poem I wrote a few months after Tom's diagnosis:

​Winter
The winter trees
So stark and empty,
All the leaves,
Have blown away.
 
The cloudy skies,
Threaten storms,
The winter’s cold
Is everywhere.
 
Why does the sun,
Hide from me?
Why do the clouds,
Take over me?
 
I look for the light,
It’s somewhere out there.
I wait for the sun,
To break me free.
 
Tracy Hinton
December 6th, 2017

​            I have struggled with the holiday season for years. I know this year is going to be even more difficult since it is the first one without Tom. The hospice chaplain suggested I create a “holiday game plan” to help me get through it. I’ve been thinking the last couple of days what that plan might look like. This is what I have so far:

1. Continue walking/movement: one thing I have learned this year is that keeping myself moving helps A LOT! I guess the saying “A body in motion tends to stay in motion” is true. Even on the mornings where I have struggled to get out of bed and get myself going, once I walk, I usually feel a lot better.
2. Write: last year I had started writing again and it helped me a lot in coping with the holidays. Writing, whether it’s in my blog, poems, etc. helps me process my feelings. After thinking about it, I am going to write in my “Dear Tom” notes about how I am feeling and what I am doing during the holiday season. My hope is that it will help me feel a little bit like he’s here.
3. Work on my 2021 Happiness Project Resolution list. Doing the Happiness Project this year where I set goals each month and marked each day whether I did them or not really helped me to accomplish an amazing amount of stuff this year. Structuring the blog as my accountability by posting (the good, the bad, and the ugly lol) helped keep the obliger in me on track. (According the Gretchen Rubin’s 4 Tendency Framework; obligers will do and do for other people, but have a hard time maintaining commitments to themselves. I know this has been true for me).
4. Work on my 21 for 21 list: this year I created a 20 for 20 list of 20 items I wanted to do this year. I think writing a list of what I want to do in 2021 will be helpful.
5. Read: reading is one of the things I enjoy doing more than almost anything else. When I am feeling down, I tend to not read as much. So in December, I am going to schedule time for reading every day.
6. Choose healthy foods: continue my goal of fruits and vegetables and making mostly healthy food choices.

I will continue thinking about this plan and try to come up with more concrete steps I can take to keep myself from falling into a pit of despair during the holiday season

With Thanksgiving a week away, I thought we'd talk today about what we're thankful for.

There is all the typical stuff (family, friends, home, food) and all of that is important. Today I want to try to think of some more unusual things that I don't normally think of.

I'm thankful for sometimes getting to pet dogs when I am out walking. I enjoy the interaction with the pets and the owners and it puts a smile on my face every time.

I'm thankful for technology. Yes, it has issues, but it has been a blessing to be able to teach webinars between Tom's health and the virus limiting the amount of live teaching I could do.

I'm thankful my body is in decent shape. Yes, I am overweight, but everything still works well and I can get out and take walks with no issues. I can even still bend over and touch my toes. 

What are some of the things you're thankful for? I love Thanksgiving with the focus on thankfulness. Yes, we should be thankful all year round but I think having a time of year to really focus on thankfulness is beneficial.

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