Happy Thanksgiving!

I'd like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everybody that stops by to read this!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday believe it or not.

I love getting together with my family, having a great meal together and spending time enjoying each other's company.

Nice and simple.

I appreciate that there's a lot less stress involved with Thanksgiving. There are things to do of course, you have to cook and often times you have to travel, but that's pretty much it as far as hassles go. You don't have to put lights on the house, put up decorations all over the place, or go to crowded malls. There's no running around like a nut getting gifts, writing out a bunch of Christmas Cards or wrapping presents.

Thanksgiving is just about getting together and spending time with the people you care about, watching some football and maybe if your lucky, taking a nap. Ahhhh. It's just nice.

Today I am most thankful for my wife and kids, and my baby girl who is on the way. I am thankful that they are all happy and healthy. I am thankful that I can provide a nice warm house for them and put food on their table.

As I think about all the things I am thankful for, I can't help but think of the men and women who are serving in our Armed Forces right now, who are away from their families and putting it all on the line for you and me. To all of them I am most grateful. I hope their Thanksgiving is especially safe and enjoyable.

This morning I opened my eyes and rolled over to find my son staring me right in the face, eyeball to eyeball.

"ITS THANKSGIVING DAD!! IT'S THANKSGIVIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG!!"

"..It is?" I mumbled. Despite the shockingly loud wake-up call, I was still not quite awake yet.

"YEAH!! IT IS, IT IS, IT IIZZZZZZ!"

Now I was awake. "Well, Happy Thanksgiving!!" I said.

From the other room, my little girl was waking up and I heard, "DAD!!" ITS SNOWINNNNGGGG!!

"WHAT?? NO. It CANT be. It's not supposed to snow till Christmas."

"YAH!! It IS, It IS, IT IIIIZZZZZZ!!! Can we go OUTSIDE?? I want to go Belly WHOPPING like FROSTY!! Look!! The cars are all getting covered with SNOOOOWWWWW!!! MOM!! DAD! It's SNOWING!!"

If you cant tell, my kids were a little bit excited this morning. After I have a cup of coffee, I'll take them outside for the first snow of the year. Then we'll come back in for a little breakfast and watch the Thanksgiving Parade.

Later on we'll pack up the van and head over to my folks for Thanksgiving Dinner. My Mom makes a mean Thanksgiving dinner. My grandmother and my aunts and uncles all come over, as well as my sister, her husband and a few of their friends. It is always great to see everybody.

After we've come home tonight and the kids are in bed, my wife and I will probably kick back and watch "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". It's kind of a tradition we have. We always watch that movie at Thanksgiving time. It's one of our favorites. Last night on the way home from work I bought the DVD version, since our tape was starting to get worn out. Normally we would have watched it last night, but 'LOST' was on, and we could not miss that. (We are both addicted to that show.)

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!