Thankful for Them

This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the States, so many of us are already getting ready for it. A lot of work goes into making Thanksgiving a holiday. There's grocery shopping and cleaning and baking and cooking and traveling and smiling—whether we feel like it or not. And Thanksgiving kicks off The Holiday Season for us. From here on out many of us are in full holiday mode—whether we're ready for it or not.

Holidays can be stressful for couples. There's extra financial pressure, time pressures as the schedule fills up with holiday happenings and then there's family pressure from extended family expectations and personality conflicts. It's an easy time to drift apart as a couple as each of you fulfill your responsibilities. Sometimes it feels like the only time you see each other is between midnight and 5 AM, and by then most of the romance has evaporated in the crush of everything else.

As wives and mothers, we feel the need to create a holiday atmosphere for our family and to create holiday memories for them that they'll carry with them into their own lives. That's an added pressure we feel and often it's easy to ignore, or overlook, our husbands as we see to everyone and everything else. After all, they're adults. They're big boys.

That's true, they are. But long after the kids move out and have kids of their own, who's going to be home with you, reliving those memories you're working so hard to create? Your husband is, that's who! You don't want to be sitting in your rocking chair remembering how much the kids loved the deluxe triple layer chocolate cherry cake you made while your hubby is sitting in his rocking chair remembering how stressed and grouchy you were as you made the thing. Not to mention the tirade you went into when he invited you to join him doing something you used to do together, before the kids came. His head may know you were stressed and that you didn't mean all those words that slipped out, but his heart may still remember the hurt.

This Thanksgiving, as you fly around doing all that needs doing, take time to land in your husband's lap a few times. Grab him as you run past and give him a hug to remember—you know the ones...full body contact from your ankles to the top of your head. Make taste testing the gravy a reminder to him that you love loving with him.

As your calendar fills in, block off time for each other. And keep it. Jealously guard it. Look at that time as dual purpose time: not only will it help you and your husband stay connected during the busyness, it will also give you a few hours to recharge. Yes, I know, spending that kind of time with your man takes energy, but it's energy well spent, often leaving you ready to face on the world again. It's time well spent. Even better than that, it's time well invested because it keeps us close and united as a couple which helps as we deal with all the extras that come at us.

As Thanksgiving heralds in the holiday season, make sure you show your husband you're thankful for him. It's a good place to start and end the holiday!

So tell me, what are some ways you can communicate thankfulness to your husband?