I love the holidays! Turning the calendar page over to November fills my heart with love, thankfulness and excitement for the season ahead.The holidays are traditionally a time to express gratitude to those we love as we gather over a Thanksgiving meal and make shopping lists of people we want to remember with a card or gift of appreciation. This holiday spirit of thankfulness is the spirit I’ve tried to carry through my cancer journey every day of the year. When life is ugly, dark, painful and bleak, finding gratitude in the simplest things snaps me out of the dull drums replacing sadness with hope, positivity and healing. During cancer, I spent many days sitting on my patio in the early morning hours, in my pj’s, when the world was still, meditating, watching the sunrise, listening to the song of birds, watching the clouds, listening to the wind, looking at the flowers in my garden and reciting self-created personal affirmations. Not only did I enjoy nature but felt gratitude for my