My Thanksgiving Resolution

So today is Thanksgiving...I'm not gonna lie I had totally forgotten about that holiday; I only remembered it was this weekend because some Japanese friends were asking me exactly what it was. I did not have a feast of turkey, I did not glutton on pumpkin pie, I did not sit around and digest an overly full stomache with friends and family, but strangely enough, it was a good holiday for me.
My Thanksgiving Day consisted of driving out to Hachimantai (a Japanese-sized mountain about two hours away) and walking around; it's at a higher level than Takanosu so the leaves had started changing already; it was quite beautiful. There were natural hot springs there, but like the ones that if you go in you get boiled to death (accurately named Hell). And sure enough they did boil eggs at that place. I got one and ate it, discovering to my chagrin that it was probably only in the boiling water for about 30 seconds; the white wasn't even completely cooked yet. But I didn't die. And on we went to the top of the mountain (which was quite disappointing because it was basically flat and just covered with trees) and back down again. (Note to all you hikers out there: don't try to eat large bits of chocolate while hiking - you might accidently inhale all the extra saliva you've generated from eating and start to choke.) Then we went home and had our chestnut rice, I guess om English you would call it.
Yesterday we spent our afternoon climbing random chestnut trees in the forest, shaking them, trying to avoid all of the fist-sized porcupine balls that were falling on our heads, and searching for the nuts that had exploded all over the forest floor. It was quite an adventure. (And I picked a good day to wear white shoes and a while jacket, traipsing around in the forest like that...) Chestnuts are a lot of work to eat; the next time you get a chestnut craving, if at all possible, buy them in the store so you don't have to go hunting for them. After collecting a bag full of forest grace, we went back to the house where another two hours of work began. We had to shell each one by hand, and then shave them with a knife to get another layer of nut shell remains off.
And today we consumed our hand-picked goodness after a full and satisfying day out in nature.
So this year's Thanksgiving wasn't your typical Candian Thanksgiving, but it's a day, or weekend, I am thankful for non-the-less. In all honesty, it didn't feel different than any other day. But shouldn't that be the way Thanksgiving is? Shouldn't we be thankful everyday, no matter what's written on the calender? Thankfulness is a thing I think we often overlook and something we seldom do. (I'm becoming much more aware of being thankful after 7 months of immersion in this culture where you say thanks for weeks after somebody's done even just a small thing for you; I notice it's not so much in Canadian culture to be thankful all the time.) Shouldn't our thankfulness to others be something that's just so engrained by us, driven out of our thankfulness for God's unending mercy?
We have a lot to be thankful for, and I think we would all be better off doing what God tells us to do in the bible and make it a habit of being thankful.