Thanksgiving morning, Dane and I and the kids cut circles out of construction paper. On each one, someone wrote something they were thankful for. We stuck the circles to the sliding-glass door in our living room, which happens to be the landing place for much of our seasonal artwork. (Snowflakes will be taped to it very very soon.)

We started with big things on big circles: family, friends. After a while the kids each took a stack of little circles and wrote every last thing they could think of. They were thankful for parents. For siblings. For heaven. For farms and birds and nature. Also for toys. And so many things I wouldn’t have thought to list: they were thankful for light. For air. For water, and bathtubs.

And I, for my part, am so thankful that I get to hang out with these cool little people every day, even the days when they’re more thankful for their toys than for their parents, who make them tidy up before bed. I should probably cut out another circle and add that to the collection.

I’d add one that says I’m thankful not to be shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but the kids wouldn’t know what to make of that. So I’ll just be thankful for it privately.  (Uh, as privately as one can be, once one has written it on a public blog on the internet.)

What about you? Any thankful thoughts you want to share here? We can get back to our regularly-scheduled cynicism/sarcasm/complex appraisals of life tomorrow. For now: I’m thankful for you. Thanks for being there, internet (and in-person) friends.