some comments about thanksgiving

posting has been light yesterday and will be today because of the thanksgiving holiday.

earlier this week, i posted a thanksgiving prayer for the cynical at heart. if you want to read it, click here.

i'll be eating thanksgiving dinner this afternoon with four generations of my immediate family: my parents, my brothers, their children and two of their grandchildren -- my grandnieces. one of my sisters in law invited her sister, husband, and two children. and a nephew make bring along his girlfriend. that's anywhere from 14 to 17 people.

if i know my family, many kinds of carbohydrates will be served: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, noodles, and rolls, to name a few.

i'm not that great of a cook, so i'm not bringing macaroni and cheese from a box, fried chicken i bought from a store, or any other dish that was easy to make or easy to buy. i'm bringing relishes: sweet and dill pickles, green and black olives, celery sticks and carrots. you could call them side dishes to a salad.

i'm thankful for many things: that i have people i know with whom i can eat dinner today.

i have great empathy for many people who are away from home, whatever it may be, for thanksgiving. two groups come to mind:

• the first is those who are on duty -- u.s. military overseas, especially in the middle east, along with police officers and firefighters. and i'm thankful for them doing their duties for the rest of the populace.
• the second group is people who couldn't get back home because it was too far to travel or they're going through hard economic times or any other reason.

i'm thankful that i have my health. many people of my age, including a couple of friends, along with their parents, are dead and gone.

and i'm thankful that i have my sanity, although at times i'm not the most chipper and upbeat man you would know. but i'm working on that.

i know one man who's not thankful for today. he's a native american who's half iroquois. for him, i'm sure today is like january 27 -- the international day of rememberance for the holocaust -- for the jews. i bet he would agree with this quote from malcolm x:

"we didn't land on plymouth rock; plymouth rock landed on us!"

i don't want to end on a down note, so here's a slice of cheescake for dessert. go ahead -- it's thanksgiving -- gorge yourself with it along with pumpkin pie and other tasty desserts:



she is karolina kurkova, a czech supermodel who's one of victoria's secret angels.

by the way, at 10 p.m. wednesday, december 3, cbs will broadcast a special victoria's secret fashion show. so that's one thing, readers, you can be thankful for -- if you're a heterosexual male.

goodbye for now. posting will resume probably on friday and no later than sunday.