Every year my family gathers for Thanksgiving dinner and mentions what we are thankful for. While I am very grateful for my family, my house, my job, my education, those are pretty standard. There are so many things out there that I say a prayer of thanks to God for bringing into my life to give me a warm and fuzzy feeling of gratitude. Here are a few of my favorite odd things to be grateful for this year.

1. Stoplights

Maybe there is a sign from God that you hit every red light. You will get there when you get there and everybody has had bad stoplight mornings. Maybe you just need to slow down and stop before it is the right time to go.

2. Tissues

So many other purposes besides blowing your nose and during the autumn cold season, having a clean tissue is like striking gold.

3. Dirty Laundry

If you have enough dirty clothes to make a full load of laundry, you are doing just fine and it's among the easier household chores. Nobody said you had to fold your clothes and the machines do the work for you.

4. Your first drink of your morning coffee

It’s not too cold and you don’t burn your tongue. That delicate 10-15 minute window is your time to savor one of the most underrated pleasures…at least in the beverage department.

5. When your favorite song ends just as you are pulling into work.

You feel so coordinated and you have that extra spring in your step as you are jamming to the new hit single.

6. Rainy Saturdays

Everything just feels clean and peaceful and it's your opportunity to spend all day how you want. You can be lazy or productive and nobody will judge because they are doing their day the way they want to as well.

7. Coupons

It’s the prime shopping season, so anytime you can save a few dollars, your wallet says thank you. There’s also just something exciting about saying “Yes, I do have a coupon!” and watching the price fall.

8. Finding a good book

This goes with #6, but when you have a book that you can’t wait to read, it can be just as addicting as binge-watching Netflix. You can also go to the bookstore and look for new books, which is a whole other kind of fun.

9. The first day you can wear your sweatshirt and jeans without a coat

If you live anywhere with 4 seasons, you have to dress for all weather, all the time. Those days when you can throw on your favorite sweatshirt and your comfiest jeans without a coat are the perfect fall days. These are the days when your books and dirty laundry can wait and you hope for a non-rainy, good stoplight day with minimal tissues, good coffee and lots of coupons.

10. Warm Blankets

But when the weather gets chilly, throwing a big warm blanket on your bed or couch and snuggling up in the clean smells beats all the above items by a lot.

11.When my dog snores during a nap

I take that back, my puppy, belly up, snoring away is an underrated pleasure that I find adorable and just gives me a feeling of how blessed I am. I mean I’m with a dog in a house that I am comfortable in. Does it get better than that?

There’s my list of odd things to be thankful for this year. While I gather with family and friends, I may just read this list when asked what I’m thankful for. I have a feeling nobody in my family will mention stoplights or coupons, so nobody will take my idea.

Wishing Kind Blessings of Gratitude,

Lily