Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The origami turkeys are made, and gaze down upon us in my classroom from where they've perched. (On a paper chain, tied by their feathers, poor things.)

The meal is arranged at my mother's who wants to host it before we get to the place where she can't. It will be without my brother and his family this time, because he won't commit until the last minute whereupon he arrives pissed off. About something, who knows what?

My husband and I will greet before the Thanksgiving service at our church Thursday morning, while all the turkeys are roasting in ovens across Illinois and the whole United States.

So, everything's in place. There's a lot to do, certainly, for the feast, but it's all planned. And I'm wondering what I can say about Thanksgiving that's fresh and new. One of the quotes I read said, "It's "We stole your land and killed all your people day~Let's celebrate!" but that seems to fall far short of any sentiment I want to hang on to. Even though it is rather apt.

Neither do I want to fall into the obligatory sentiments of: I'm thankful for my home, my family, my job" stated off of rote memorization from when we began in Kindergarten.

I think the sentiment I want to express the most is that thankfulness should be expressed on every day, not just the fourth Thursday of every November. Some days are harder than others to be thankful for: the day that my student, Jacob, lost his mother to cancer is not a thankful one for him. The day my son lost is own father is not a thankful one for him. But, overall, I think we have to look for joy and thankfulness in every small (or big) thing, and add them up until they are overflowing like a feast in our hearts.

In blog world? There are lots of things that frustrate me: I would like to visit, and comment, much more than I do. I would like to take pressure off myself and just post when I had a brilliant insight. Which wouldn't be all that often.

But, I love the connection I've established with you. I love being requested to review marvelous books I'd never have found on my own. I love hosting the Japanese Literature Challenge and there again, learning so much more than I ever knew from every one's reviews. I love the anticipation for Christmas which is already building with the establishment of the Advent Blog Tour, The Book Bloggers Holiday Swap, the Persephone Secret Santa. I love receiving an unexpected card in the mail like a comment in real life. I love the way that the book blogging world has expanded and enriched my world.

So, I give thanks this week for you, my friends, among all the other great blessings in my life.