It’s Thanksgiving week in the U.S. Each year, I try to do a post where I list out some of the things I’m thankful for.

Last year, I was thankful for the following:

• Having a job
• Having financial stability
• Art of crochet
• Getting a standing desk
• All the audiobook that kept me sane

To be honest, I had a hard time coming up with this year’s list especially after yesterday’s announcement at work. Apparently, I will be off from Christmas Eve until the New Year and won’t return to work until the 3rd of January and the most fantastic part, all those days are paid. I immediately thought of traveling, going somewhere I’ve never been for Christmas except:

1. Airfare is crazy expensive during this time of the year and
2. mom insists on tagging along despite she cannot walk a 1/10 mile without complaining of leg and back pain
3. none of the places I want to go is mom-approved. Basically, she doesn’t like any of the places I pick like the east and west coast, Spanish speaking regions, pot-smoking regions, and cold places. So basically, what’s left is home.

So I might as well be stuck in the prison I call home for 10 days. Nevertheless, as miserable as I have been this year, there are still some things to be thankful for. So here it is:

• Having a job with lots of overtime. I hate to say it and my mind has been playing back and forth on this one but I supposed the overtime had kept me busy in some ways over the last almost 12 months.
• I’m thankful for the one to two days a week when I get to leave home and head into the office. Those days have become my favorite days of the week because I got to interact with my co-worker instead of getting insulted from my mom.
• I’m thankful for the travel – Highway 12 from Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon, Las Vegas, Yellowstone.
• I’m thankful for my sympathetic co-workers. They know I’m having a hard time at home dealing with my aunts and mom and they helped me a lot.
• I’m thankful for all the audiobooks and podcasts that allowed me to learn new things and kept me sane especially when working from home with my mom screaming my name every few minutes from two floors down.
• I am thankful for the opportunity to garden and grow my own vegetables even now that winter has arrived. It has taught me great lessons about being patient.
• Lastly, I am thankful for this blogging community, thankful to the regular commenters. Your comments are important to me and sometimes, reading them helped remind me I’m not alone and how I’m being treated by family members and at home is not healthy and fair.