Ten Things to Be Thankful For

Oh, yeah! It's almost Thanksgiving, my personal favorite holiday because of all the food. It's like Christmas, only without all the stress of gift-giving. It's also the holiday in most danger of being overlooked because no one has yet figured out how to turn it into a retail extravaganza.

In celebration, and because gratitude is good for your health, I've come up with this list of woo-hoo things. Please feel free to add some of yours in the comments. Or in your head--I know many of you are either (1) shy, or (2) technologically stumped whenever you try to leave a comment here or on UrbanFarmJunkie.

1. Gretchen's book club is awesome! Not only do they try to out-do each other in food preparation (a wonderful thing to experience, if you're a visitor), but they were fun and lively and had a million questions about Cass and friends, the #1 burning question being, Is Daniel a real person? This is a funny one because a woman who works at our church also asked this. How could there be any appropriate answer? "Oh, yeah, he's that guy who teaches 3rd grade Sunday school. Totally hot--am I right? I've been fantasizing about that man ever since I saw him do the sock puppet skit." Anyhow, a great evening. Thanks for the enthusiasm, lack of James-bashing, and interest in the sequel.
   
2. Teri Sytsma has her new website up and running! If you don't happen to know Teri, she's the gifted illustrator of Mia and the Magic Cupcakes. The woman can draw/paint anything: people, nature, buildings, you name it. I love her work. And I should know, we have a Teri Sytsma original hanging in our family room.
   
3. Mia is coming soon! Yessiree, we've set the launch dates, so cross your fingers that the bindery will finish in time. Shoot me an email if you'd like an invitation to the Thursday, Dec 2 or Sunday, Dec 5 (Redmond Town Center Pinkabella) or Tuesday, Dec 7 (Bellevue Square) party. See my website for more details. Or heck, just show up. Mia is the perfect Christmas gift for the sweet child in your life. Pick up a few gift certificates as stocking stuffers, while you're at it!
   
4. The world is full of wonderful books. I've read two lately: Edith Wharton's The Reef and Yann Martel's Life of Pi. Yes, I know I was the last person on the planet to read the latter, but I bet I was the first person in fifty years to read the former. And you could not imagine two more different books. Great mash-up potential: stick one of those languid, Wharton dilettante men in a lifeboat with a tiger. Or let loose that hyena in the ex-pat, Parisian drawing rooms and watch the fur fly. I recommend both whole-heartedly.
   
5. The world is full of wonderful movies. Check out The Namesake if you caught Literary Night this year and got interested in the Generation Gap. That's it in a nutshell. And a much better movie than the adaptation of The Joy Luck Club. We also enjoyed The Book of Eli (post-apocalyptic wanderings with some biblical prophet stuff thrown in) and Me and Orson Welles (Zac Efron is darling).
   
6. Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young Award.
   
7. It might snow this weekend.
   
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows opens tonight.
   
9. One turkey gives you just enough leftovers that you wish you had more. Remember in Caddie Woodlawn where they had to eat the whole flock of turkeys, and they lost their taste for it. A crying shame.
   
10. Thanksgiving is about family and friends and food, and thanks be to God, we are blessed with all three.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my dear readers and friends!