Thanksgiving 2021. It would be so much easier to write a blog on the negative this Thanksgiving especially as I pull out of the QT after filling up and head to Indian Land SC but I will not. Instead I will be thankful that I have a vehicle that can that can burn the gas that has doubled in price over the last year. I will be thankful that I am working to support the vehicle that can burn the gas that has doubled in price over the last year. I will be thankful that I have family who has endured this year and that I am able to visit in that vehicle that has the turkey or ham that is 30% more expensive than it was last year and I can burn the gas that has doubled in price over the last year. Yes, I will focus on the positive.

I am thankful……honest I am. I am thankful I have family members who take eating as seriously as I do. Isn’t Thanksgiving about the food? It’s a holiday where we show off our latest culinary experiments or brush up on our favorite classics. I for one am the experimenter. You can have the turkey and ham. I’ll bring something exotic and is not so Thanksgivingish. Sometimes it’s works, sometimes I have been asked never to make that again. Every family has their traditions when comes to food. My cousin Kim will make her wonderful broccoli casserole, sister in law Linda will make her fantastic tomato pie, Bob the ham. The whole holiday revolves around food.

Thanksgiving was declared an American holiday by President Lincoln in 1863, while the Civil War was raging. As bad as we seem to think our country is now it could not have been as bad as 1863. His essential message was that during difficult times, we must not lose sight of the good. In his proclamation, Lincoln emphasized that the year had “been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come and that is from a ever watchful providence of Almighty God.”

While we are experiencing hard times, as we approach this year’s celebration of Thanksgiving, I’m trying to take the time to recognize the blessings in my own life, to identify what I have to be thankful for and express that thanks to God. That, more than anything else, will make this year’s Thanksgiving exceptionally meaningful.

Thanksgiving 2021. What are you thankful for? I have many. The Atlanta Braves won the World Series to which I am very thankful. COVID 19 did not shut down the Pita House. We now have a big, beautiful back porch. Ted Lasso. Thankful for Dr. Harold Jennings DMD my dentist for the last 40 years who will be retiring this year….bummer.

So let’s give thanks and may your Thanksgiving be filled with love and laughter and just the right amount of alcohol to make it enjoyable yet still memorable.