Why I'm Thankful for Thanksgiving, and 18 Other Things, Too

Thankfully, Thanksgiving is almost here.

It’s the time of year when we eat, watch football, eat, visit with family, and, most importantly, eat. And then we go back for leftovers.

Thanksgiving is an underrated holiday. People who study these kinds of things say that nothing elevates one’s general level of happiness more than persistent thankfulness. Clearly the researchers involved in this study didn’t have to deal with a drunken Uncle Jimmy who overstays his welcome and belches loudly during dessert, but if the research is true, then Thanksgiving should be the happiest day of the year.

Aside from the Uncle Jimmy (or the relevant obnoxious dinner guest at your table), though, there's a pretty good argument that Turkey Day is the best day of the year.

It offers all the togetherness and joy of Christmas, but there are no presents to buy, nothing to wrap and nothing to think about beforehand other than a holiday menu, which doesn’t change much on annual basis anyway.

Plus, unlike with every other holiday under the sun, we celebrate this one at the beginning of its holiday weekend instead of the end.

Suffice to say, I’m thankful for Thanksgiving.

That isn’t all I’m thankful for, though. Later on, I’m going to sit down (or possibly just crouch) and write out 101 things for which I’m grateful. I think is important to do this because 101 is an indisputably festive number.

Here, however, I’m only going to mention 19.  This will take significantly less effort to both write and read, and we can both be thankful for that because you probably have a turkey to baste anyway.

Here goes:

1. Thanksgiving.
2. Turkey.
3. Thanksgiving Turkey.
4. My cats. At least when they aren’t engaging in a flying leap onto one of my sensitive body parts in the small hours of the morning.
5. Coffee on a rainy day.
6. Or any other day.
7. That we live in a world where grapes magically become wine when they sit in a barrel long enough.
8. Answered prayers, and the lessons learned from the ones that aren’t answered as I would have liked.
9. Close friends. The real ones. The people who you not only see all the time, but whose presence reminds you why you love them every time you do.
10. Political ads featuring sheep with glowing red eyes.
Google it.
If you don’t yet know what I’m talking about, you’ll thank me later.
11. The chance for an Alabama/LSU rematch in the college football national title game. Even if it risks even further damage to my marriage.
12. Long weekends.
13. Patios on warm days.
14. Noon hotel check-out times.
15. That it has been more than 18 months since either my city or my house has been underwater.
16. My chiropractor, my wife and family, the employees at my local Jack-in-the-Box, the renter who occupies the house I can’t sell, and everyone else without whom my life would come to immediate and irreparable ruin.
17. That my memories are still outnumbered by my dreams. Even if, currently, those dreams primarily involve eating a lot of turkey.
18. People who read blogs.
19. Especially mine.


God bless, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.