Thanksgiving

While my tendency is to be a kvetch, as tochacha is always the first step to improving most things or most people as the Sages suggest, there are times to break from this pattern.  My American and Jewish cultures set some time on the calendar to enable this.  The American one, Thanksgiving, arrives tomorrow and one of the Jewish ones, Chanukah, comes next week.  Tal Ben-Shahar, in his PBS Special, suggested keeping a daily log of Hakaras HaTov, five good things that took place each day.  I keep my log in a grade school composition book obtained in the back to school sale.  It is very sporadic in entry dates, though I am fortunate that I am never at a loss to come up with all five.  These entries are always a look back, though, never anticipation of the good that might come my way tomorrow.  As the wise character Alfred Doolittle noted, "the Lord is throwing goodness at you but with a little bit of luck a man can duck."

Since I cover Xmas each year, I can always expect Thanksgiving as a day off, though this year only the one day.  The menu has been planned, the kids arriving from NY at some point, and a marathon of enjoyable meal prep and eating awaits.