Thanks.
It’s back to the time of the year where we bring out our traditions, pile on all the blankets, and laugh over a table of food. For years now, we’ve started out the day of giving thanks by hopping into the car and head to the community college to run and walk the turkey trot, whether it’s a cloudy fifty degrees or a cloudy, windy thirty degrees.
These years of Thanksgiving races have given us markers to compete against each other and ourselves. They’ve also given us further excuse to eat more than the usual. 
So, as we warm up after our morning exercise, well deserved treats are had, the typical American football game is on, and dishes are prepared. Mom and Uncle Mark’s favorite is the stuffing, spongy and toasty, good for the soul, comforting for the heart. 
Dad’s favorite is the green bean casserole, a close second favorite of mine, with the crunch fried onions both within and on top of the warm goodness. Corey’s favorite has always been, and always will be the cranberry salad which he made this year. My favorite stands with the sweet potatoes my mom makes.
With all of these yummy foods that form our meal, we sit down like many of the other families in the States, and say a prayer of thanks around plates and decor. The thanks given must come before all of the premature commercialism of special sales and more materials. It must come after the humility that we do not stand on perfect ground.
But the thanks comes, flowing through us in various thoughts and different forms. This year, thanksgiving has been a wake up call to process the year before it finishes in a blink. Today told me to notice what looked different in these last eleven months. To sit with it, and smile at it. 
To give thanks for things, like the way I look at colors and how I experience empathy. Maybe also the studies I’ve been able to pursue, how I’ve loved to learn about the way art has been braided into the history of humanity. The new kind of confidence in my steps and of course the people around me who never fail to make me feel known.
Wherever your thankfulness is centered around today, sit with those things you notice. Hold them closer than normal and remember that this thankfulness can be a new normal. A new way to cherish the parts of our life we gloss over when looking for the brighter and newer. 
And on this thankful day, around food and family, we ate, and then we napped. We snuggled around the TV as we watched Miracle on 34th Street. We gave the dog some of our scraps, and then we packed up the leftovers for tomorrow. ~ kj