Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. It is a day of family, comfort, and providing nourishment to each other. While some holidays have lost some of their glow since childhood and others of have become more important, Thanksgiving has remained a gold standard to me.

We do not all get to spend the day with our family. Some work, some have parenting schedules to work around, some have lost family, and some struggle for the resources to provide the traditional Thanksgiving meal. I have experienced some of these stumbling blocks. However, keeping in mind, and in the heart, the desire to give thanks for what we have, and more importantly for who we have with us in our lives, it should be a day with smiles regardless of any obstacles to reaching a Rockwellian meal.

I hope we all will give thanks sincerely, spending today helping our family, friends, pets, and neighbors no matter how distant, to know that we are thankful for them.

As a side note, this commentary on being thankful in the wake of tragedy, discussing the impact of the global situation on our gratitude, is well worth the read. http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2015/11/23/457062495/being-thankful-in-the-wake-of-tragedy