In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

It’s evening of a very different Thanksgiving for my husband and me. We were here by ourselves, just the two of us, having ”refrigerator surprise,” i.e.. Monday’s leftovers.   My   dinner plans took an unexpected left turn. Tuesday night I came down with a 24 hour bug, the kind that hits like lightning, keeps you in the bathroom all night and listless on the couch most of the next day. The very thought of cooking today – and eating- a turkey feast ,   replete with gravy, buttery mashed potatoes and all the rest of the menu was really unappealing to say the least.

Dan ordered a large “take and bake” pizza for our dinner. We’d invited my daughter and her boy friend to join us but even that didn’t turn out. Dean got sick also and they decided to stay at home. So it was Dan and I having a simpler meal together and it was very, very nice. We reminisced about all the Thanksgivings we have had together with friends and with family. Some were adventurous; some were disastrous; some were funny; some were not. Many are memories which have faded and softened into the fabric of our time together.

Today I’ve had actual time to think about being thankful because I wasn’t rushing around trying to “do” everything for the big meal. This morning I watched all of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and it surely touched my New Yorker heart. The parade showed some of the best, the most creative, talented and  brightest of what it means to be an American. Thanksgiving is after all an American tradition inspire by our American heritage and the parade is iconic.  I felt a surge of new hope for this country and the future despite the dire darkness eating up the edges the world. We Americans can really do some things exceedingly well and the unbroken tradition of this parade, now in its 89^th year, is one of the finest. For a few hours this morning there was joy, delight, love and happiness in everyone, especially in the small children being held by their parents. I am thankful that God is still blessing us as a people, that His Hand still touches us. We are still safe if only for the moment. I am thankful that  God still  offers us   Christ’s indestructible, timeless peace, not the world’s  fickle peace of the moment.

This afternoon I took a short walk along the snow covered road. It was quieter than usual. Folks were either gone visiting or taking post dinner naps. I walked until my still wobbly legs said “Enough for now.” I sat on the front deck for a bit in the bright sunshine, watching the wind rustle the frozen grasses around the birdbath and a squirrel still “squirreling” away his winter stores. Two deer came into the garden to browse oblivious of my watching them. The icy north wind blew the tall pine trees back and forth along the golf course but I felt warm and toasty in the afternoon sunshine.

I found time to read a new mystery in front of the fire and may even have fallen asleep . After dinner Dan and I dug into the pies I’d made earlier in the week. My appetite returned for that ! After all of this, we still have leftovers. Sometimes I think the miracle of the loaves and fishes takes place each night in my refrigerator for food seems to multiply inside.

And so, even though today wasn’t exactly a Norman Rockwell illustration of a large family gathered around a fully laden table, heads bowed  in prayer, it feels like all of today was a prayer of thanksgiving. All things bright and beautiful were right here in my own patch of the planet and for that  I give Him thanks in all things, the ordinary and the extraordinary, in celebration feasts and in leftover meals.