Thanksgiving, 2012

Today is the holiday we Americans call Thanksgiving. The first feast of thanksgiving was supposedly (the history is a bit murky) celebrated by early settlers to give thanks for their survival in a new and dangerous land, and as an additional gesture of thanks and friendship they invited the Indians who had shared their food and knowledge to help them survive.  Thanksgiving has been celebrated as a national holiday on different dates throughout our history, but after the Civil War victory* at Gettysburg, President Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation on October 3, 1863, declaring the fourth Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving Day. In 1941, Congress made it official**.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, for the simple reason that I am a person with much to be thankful for and need occasionally to be reminded of how fortunate I am. Thus, it's good to have at least one time a year to reflect on my good fortune and be appropriately thankful.

Here is a partial list of the things for which I give thanks today ... and every day:

The love of a wonderful lady ...

Six wonderful grandchildren ... sadly, not all on the same continent ... Noah, Ava Rose, Marcy, and Joe ...

and Leya and Elise ...

Good parents who raised me in a loving family and taught me the things I needed to know and the values in which I believe ...

A home.

A job.

Enough to eat.

Good friends.

People who actually read, comment on, and (occasionally) enjoy my blog.

And a whole lot of other things it would take me days to enumerate.

I am, truly, a thankful fellow, today and every day. And on this Thanksgiving Day it's good to sit back and reflect ... despite all economic uncertainty, political chicanery, war, and Congressional buffoonery ... on how much we truly have to be thankful for.

Have a wonderful, safe, and happy Thanksgiving Day. Thanks for being my digital friends.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* Well, "victory" if you're a Yankee, anyhow.

** Nowadays, the measure would certainly not pass Congress - Republicans would object to it as job-killing^TM and socialist, while Democrats would be upset because it does not explicitly support equal rights for toms and hens to marry.