Happy Full of Thanks Day 2016

This morning's dawning

I thought I'd include a couple excerpts of Thanksgivings gone by, from 2008 and 2010. Because Thankfulness never wears out.

"When it gets down to it, the biggest part of Thanksgiving is being with family and/or friends you love. Ok, sometimes the love is like eating Aunt Gertrude's circus peanut candies that she's brought to Thanksgiving dinner for the last 150 years. From the same bag. Be polite. Stuff it in your pocket. It'll still be good next year. That kind of love.

For me, it is about being with people I truly want to be with, since my brother and children and some friends from the past are too far away. While locals are surrounded by family (I think there are three families on Culebra and everyone is related, like it or not), many of us have families everywhere but here. While we may be lucky enough to get a local family invite, there will be groups of people getting together for some kind of feasting around the island with others who don't get to sit down for pavochon and mofongo dressing. Each group makes sure that any newcomers they've gotten to know have a place at the table."

Thanksgiving sunrise 2010

"Thanksgiving is, of course, an American holiday, full of myth and untruths, but it remains my favorite holiday because what's not to like about being thankful? And I am often overflowing with thanks, because after all, I am the Luckiest Woman in the World. America is in another wrenching convolution of its existence, in my opinion. Yet, I am thankful. Traveling its width this summer I fell back in love with the sheer beauty of the country I was born in. So take a good look around you today...it all passes away eventually, but we do have now. Thankfully."

Give thanks. Dance, laugh, hug your loved ones, play with the critters, rejoice in the food on your table and the roof over your head, the earth (or the water) under your feet. Be mindful of those who have only some or none of the above and do as you can to change that. 

Have a truly thankful Thursday. Do everything with thanksgiving.