A Happy Thanksgiving to my readers

While I count my blessings all year, this holiday is among my favorites.

For the last couple years, the radio station I regularly listen to has put in their holiday time rotation a song by Ben Rector called The Thanksgiving Song. It came out in 2020, at a time when we as a society were collectively wondering if we would even be able to gather with our families since some states were cracking down on it. It’s a nice song, and a welcome respite from what I know will come the day after: way too many Christmas songs. I’m not ready for those until after our church has their Cantata, usually a Sunday or two before Christmas.

Anyway, since I have been away from my birth family for going on two decades now, I have spent the holiday in recent years with my in-laws and assorted other folks who happened along into their lives: distant relatives, former co-workers, and the like. It’s a tradition that began at my mother-in-law’s house but when she got too old to be alone it shifted (along with her) to my sister-in-law’s. We cram a dozen or so people into the dining room and do things buffet style.

But because I was single and away from my scattered family for a few years before I met Kim, I was exposed to a few other traditions my hosts had, some more enjoyable than others. We all have these quirks, and that’s what makes family a family. In the Swartz household, ours was family UNO games (or dominoes, or both) as we ate leftovers and dessert around supper time. (We usually ate our big meal about 1 or 2 o’clock, right about the time the Lions would peter out after their normal fast start.)

As I get older, though, I have taken the blessings I used to count just at Thanksgiving and made most days a thanksgiving of some sort. Let’s face it: we all have something good happen to us at some point every day, even if it’s just avoiding something bad. (For example, yesterday morning the deer ran across the road a quarter-mile in front of me and not right in front of my car that would probably have been totaled.)

When I think about it, I consider my talent in putting words to pixels as part of a blessing, with the other (and more important) portion being the audience that reads it. I’m slowly gaining subscribers here at my Substack, about one or two a week, which isn’t bad considering I only write 2-3 times a week. This has always been a retrospective time of the year for me because this holiday is close to the anniversary of monoblogue, so I consider all I’ve gone through as I write in late November. (In fact, next Thursday I will break my Wednesday-Saturday pattern for a day to say goodbye to that venue on its seventeenth and final birthday, as a crosspost.)

In the meantime, I’m going to wish my readers and supporters a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. I hope the day is joyful for all of you.