Thanksgiving, 2011 - Part 2

If you've read any of my previous Thanksgiving Day blog posts, you already know that this is my favorite holiday of the year. It's the time when we gather with family and friends, eat too much, drink too much, and generally celebrate the good things in life. It's the time I get to prepare the traditional Thanksgiving dinner (and be thankful that I don't have to rely on Congress to do it for me) ...

In the mad rush of everyday life, at a time when the Capitol Hill Clown Show and the miserable state of the economy make each day a new struggle of worry and head-shaking, it's sometimes difficult to remember that we really do have things for which we can be thankful. This is what I wrote at this time last year:

A beautiful wife that makes getting up every morning worthwhile;

Three loving and successful children who have made their own marks on the world;

Five adorable, intelligent, and loving grandchildren that can warm the most jaded heart;

The world's best son-in-law and daughter-in-law;

A job (still!);

A home;

Good health (well, most of the time, anyhow);

The good fortune to be able to live in a country which, for all its faults, gives me the opportunity to enjoy all of them;

The ability to write what I wish in this space without worrying about the heavy hand of the censor;

The ability to enjoy the good things of the world that would be denied by those whose harsh and intolerant worship of a jealous and angry God ignores the beauty and possibilities of the present in favor of a belief in an imagined paradise in an unknowable future.

Yes, in spite of the best efforts of Congress, the financial mismanagement industry, and legions of political, social, and religious ass clowns to screw it up, I still have many things to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day. And as I get ready to finish cleaning the house and cooking the dinner for our friends who will join us later in the day, it's only right to take a few minutes to acknowledge that I am, as ever, most richly blessed.

To all of my friends out there in the blogosphere, new and old, here and overseas, I send out the very best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving and a safe and joyful holiday season to come.

Don't let the turkeys get you down.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo