Thanksgiving! What wonderful memories of years past and anticipation for the new!

It should be an especially good Thanksgiving for our family.

Most of the family will be together this year. For one reason or another some have been missing from around the table for a number of years. A few will not be here this year, but we will number close to twenty. A pretty good size crowd.

The day before Thanksgiving is my birthday. Thadd has taken the day off to spend it with me and help do some preparatory cooking. Scott will cook some tenderloin on the grill Thursday morning to go with the turkey. Glenn (a friend we have adopted into our family) will come to help too. That is a lot of help and I am looking forward to the companionship as we work

Scott’s wife Tisha and their two girls will be here as well as Thadd’s son Alex. Terry and his wife, sons, daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren will arrive Thanksgiving morning from Virginia. The children’s Pop will be here too.

I have much to be thankful for this year with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren gathered together. Those who have passed away and those that are not coming will be missed, but we will be thankful for what we have. There are so many things to be thankful for and having others to celebrate it with us just makes it all the more special.

I am blessed to be able to prepare and enjoy a meal. I am blessed to have family that wants to help me do those things. I am blessed with love, a home and enough to meet my needs and most of my wants. I am blessed with a good church family. I am blessed with good health and a fairly normal mind.

We are all blessed in the United States. We are blessed to be in a country where we can complain about taxes because we have something to be taxed. We are blessed to be able to complain about the cost of gasoline because we have a car to put it in. We are blessed to be able to complain about our politicians because we have free speech. We are blessed to be able to worship without fear of dying for it. I am so thankful I was born here and not somewhere else in the world. I love this country and all we stand for, even with all the bad things and the bickering. I hope we can make good decisions and remain the great country we have always been.

I am thankful for our military and their sacrifices. I pray for their safe return and hope Thanksgiving will not be too rough on them, even though many are away from home and loved ones. May God bless them and protect them.

This Thanksgiving I hope we all count our blessings and thank the good Lord for them. Get each member of your family to tell the things they are thankful for at dinner this year or have them write it on a tablecloth or cloth napkin so you can keep those memories from year to year. Bring them out each year after this one and let everyone remember the things they were thankful for in the past.

I would like to wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope it is one of the best days you have ever had. Eat, talk, laugh and enjoy!