Dear Readers,

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love decorating my home in the brilliant hues of fall. I love the food (especially the stuffing and cranberry sauce!). I love the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and am jealous that my mother and step-father will be in New York City for it this year! I love pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and pumpkin lattes and pumpkin rolls.

I love that no presents are expected nor exchanged.

But what really boosts it over and above all other holidays, I love Thanksgiving because it encourages me to become ultra-mindful of my blessings.

During the Thanksgiving season, I am filled with gratitude for the people who have shaped my life in one way or another over the past year. Maybe I met them through my job or church or mutual friends. Maybe she is a longtime friend who touched my life in a new way. Maybe I learned from him, or she stretched me in some way that I needed, or they blessed me or my family somehow.

I am thankful TO them and try to express my thanks in some way, with a personal card or e-mail. I find it a humbling and, paradoxically, a gratifying experience. It feels good to give credit where credit is due.
I am also thankful FOR them, that is, thankful to God for placing them along my path. Counting one’s blessings seems pointless if you don’t acknowledge the author of them.

Every night (well, almost every night), when the lights are out and 2-1/2-year-old Emma is just about to nod off to sleep, I pray out loud, and the bulk of the prayer is thanking God for the day’s events and for the people in our lives. Sometimes, I’ll ask Emma to say for whom she is thankful, and she’ll invariably chirp, “Mommy, Daddy, Benny (the dog), Lucy (the cat), and Grandma.” If I ask her WHAT she’s thankful for, the list is likely to include Thomas the train, Emily the train, brownies, ice cream and whatever character was in the storybook I just read.

Thanking God in a bedtime prayer — even if it seems silly — is one of the ways we can instill thankfulness in our children at an early age. Other ways involve some of the guidelines offered in this month’s magazine. Jane Hanna writes about birthday party manners, which includes writing thank-you notes immediately (or within a day) following the receiving of gifts. She talks of cultivating the habit of good manners, and I believe one also cultivates an attitude of gratitude.

Another way to remind school-age children of how bountiful their lives are is to encourage them to choose a charity to support for their birthday party. To see what other local parents have done, see Going Giftless on page 7. Then, extend that support to year-round. Through charitable work, kids (and adults) learn that receiving is nice for awhile, but giving has a greater impact on others, and ultimately produces an eternal result.

I know it’s not always easy to feel thankful. We struggle paying our rent and utilities; we don’t have money to buy the things we need let alone those things we want. We suffer illnesses, mental upsets, tragic accidents. Our families are torn by addictions, abuses, grudges and other hurts. We are separated from those we love.

We are concerned for our future, for our kids’ futures, for our country’s future.

But the Thanksgiving season reminds us that despite our troubles, if we find ways to be grateful, we can be lifted above our circumstances. By focusing on what is good instead of what’s bad in our lives; what’s right instead of what’s wrong; what’s a blessing rather than what has been a curse, we can chart a new course for our lives. The journey begins with two words: “Thank you.”

Like the Roman philosopher Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, it is the parent of all others.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. In this month’s OV Parent, you’ll notice we have a special section, All About Kids: Holidays 2008. In those pages, you’ll find tips to make the holidays memorable and manageable with special treats, tips for allergy sufferers and more. And check out what some local 3-year-olds are thankful for this year.