Thoughts and Thanks

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day and the beginning of the holiday season. For the next six weeks, cards will be written and mailed (or emailed), decorations will be hung inside and out, gifts will be purchased and wrapped and families will gather together. Intimate suppers and grand caroling parties will bring forth the good cheer and sparkling wit of generations united in celebration. We celebrate the holidays after weeks of hearing carols wherever we go, seeing decorations in every shop and store and wracking our brains for the perfect gift for Uncle Fester. We begin the season with gratitude and thankfulness, a fitting reminder of our blessings. For the harried, let us remember to give thanks for short lines, for the ill, let us remember the promise of medicine, for the young, let us remember the hope of our Wish List and for all of us, let us remember the meaning of the season. The gifts of family, friendship, love and joy are bundled for us in this long winter celebration.

Thanks for the great weather, for allowing us drought relief without damage from Irene.

Thanks for the local merchants who welcome us with inviting displays.

Thanks to the many gardeners who create serene landscapes and bits of whimsy.

Thanks to our friends and family.

And always, thanks to our soldiers at home and abroad who keep us free to share the warmth of this holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving.