Osler's Razor

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Mostly, I love the idea behind it, and the fact that it is simply about a spiritual value, nothing more and nothing less. I love the time of year, too, that turn from fall to winter when the trees are bare and the ground shivers. The sky can be grey, but then the clouds break and there is no sun like November sun. In Minnesota, we get big fat snowflakes that drift this way and that, looking for exactly the right place to land on the bed of leaves. I refuse to race past all of this bounty to Christmas, because there is too much to enjoy about what there is right now. The next holiday can wait its turn, after Thanksgiving and Advent, thank you.

About now, I always begin thinking about what to be thankful for. It's easy to come up with that list, too-- I have an abundance, unearned.

As I get older, too, I realize how important this is. As I think about that, about gratitude, it turns me away from so much that is negative. You can't compile a gratitude list and not smile now and then. It makes me want to call people, to hold them close, to thank them (and sometimes I do, so don't be scared!).

It's a good thing that is coming, this holiday.