Thanksgiving

According to national legend, the first Thanksgiving was not long after the first religious colony was established, and was celebrated by the Pilgrims and the Indians alike. Celebrated on and off by various presidents' individual, one time proclamations, Lincoln declared it a national holiday to be celebrated each year in 1863.

Each year, we as a nation feast and give thanks for the blessings we've received during the previous year, and we as a nation have much to be thankful for. First and foremost, we can be thankful that almost every individual in the entire nation has, at least on this day, plenty to eat. We can be thankful for the traditions of family that this nation was built on. We can be thankful for the relative safety that Americans live and celebrate in.

Individually, my spouse and I are thankful for our family--our parents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, cousins--and for our son. Mostly for our son, though, this year. He came eight weeks early, and spent his first five weeks in the NICU, but is home with us, now. We're thankful for his health, for his growth, and for the fact that he seems to have taken no ill effects (other than being small for his unadjusted age) from deciding to come early. We're thankful for steady jobs, and for having the foresight to have paid off our debt two years ago. We're thankful for the small savings account that will let us pay cash for the deductible for the baby's hospital stay.

Actually, we have so very many things to be thankful for that it's hard to pick some to share. What are you thankful for this year?