Quiet Thanksgiving is best kind

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We had a very quiet Thanksgiving day, just six of us gathered around the table.

I put out the traditional Thanksgiving spread with turkey and all the trimmings, including two kinds of cranberry sauce. I must admit that I had a little help from one of the local stores that was offering completely ready-to-go Thanksgiving meals. What a great idea! No pre-dawn oven pre-heating, or peeling potatoes. No chopping vegetables, or baking pies. All I had to do was warm everything up. That made things much easier and gave me more time to spend with the family. That's something I was thankful for yesterday.

I'm also thankful that I managed to remove the turkey carcas from the house without my fur kids trying to tackle me. At one point after dinner, I walked into the kitchen and both Toby and Buster, our dogs, were sitting and gazing longingly at the remains of Mr. Turkey. Their tails were swishing in perfect sync, and every once in a while, they would let out a little woof.

Larry, of course, lead the Blankenship choir in a harmonious tryptophan- induced snore festival while I cleared the table. Larry's son Adam brought his girlfriend Eydie along. They found places on the floor with Daniel to watch a movie. My Dad stayed for dinner and then made his escape as everyone headed in to watch the movie. I rather enjoyed the quiet of the kitchen (except for those occasional woofs from my fur kids). I turned the radio on and found a talk radio station that was sharing heartfelt stories of gratitude and hope. There were a lot of touching stories from people who knew what thanksgiving and giving thanks were all about.

It was about that time that Daniel came wandering into the kitchen. He looked kind of drowsy and as if a nap do him some good. I gave him a drink of water and he smiled, and hugged me around the waist. He said he had something in his backpack from school that he had forgotten to show me.

When he returned, he wore a yarn necklace with paper leaves. The leaves had writing on them. They said "What I'm Thankful for..." on one side, and on the other side, Daniel had listed something. One leaf said "my dogs," and the next one said "my home," and the last one said, "my mom and dad."

Sometimes, its nice to hear that even if you already know it in your heart.