Things To Be Thankful For

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

As noted in the post below this (yeah, it is a blog funding post. Life is like that just now.) this has in many ways been a brutal year. Mostly in “things fail around the house” and “health” ways.

But as we come to the close of the year, there have also been very good things, and at least two extraordinary miracles, full measure, poured over. And this is the day to remember those.

I’m not going to demand you believe in extraordinary providence, but miracles exist, even if it’s in “This was highly improbable, and it is good.”

So–

Trump did not get shot. By an inch or fractions thereof, Trump didn’t get shot.

Note that I’m not saying this because Trump or his life are that important, but because I’m convinced, from all the factors I can sense and think of, that we’d by now be knee deep in ACWII electric boogaloo. And no one wants that.

And Trump won the election. Again, I don’t know what or how much Trump can do, but I’m absolutely sure he’s better than the Junta that seized power by fraud being able to keep it, world without end. We have a chance. It’s just a chance, but it IS a chance. And we’re American. Give us a chance and we’ll take the universe.

Not coincidentally, despite the triple infection, since the election my blood pressure is once again low normal after years of doctors trying to talk me into treatment because “arrrr she’s gonna blow.

While on that, my glasses no longer require prisms. I have no idea what this means, but it seems good after years of my eyes crossing both directions (up down, and side to side.)

Other things to be grateful for: Younger son is married, and they got to have the ceremony in front of my parents, who are both still alive.

We lost Valeria, but Havey is still with us, and we certainly didn’t expect to have either of the older cats last year at this time.

And… I’ve finished the very long book. I don’t have any idea if it’s good. And it’s certainly very weird. BUT after almost 50 years, it’s out of my head, and getting edited.

And we have enough food for tomorrow, and friends (and one of the kids/spouse) coming to dinner.

I’m very thankful, even while looking forward to greater blessings.

We’ve been blessed and our work has proven fruitful. Let’s go forward, and work just as hard, and meet here next year, with even great blessings.

Go enjoy your thanksgiving.

81 thoughts on “Things To Be Thankful For”

  2. For us, the living, we are thankful. For those who serve, from the sand pits to the green hell, from the blue waters to the misty skies, in places dark, dirty, and desperate to the bastions in far foreign places amidst enemies with the faces of friends, we give thanks.

    For the mothers and fathers, in blood and in deed. For sisters and brothers, close and far. For all our relations, strange and weird, courteous and kind, hardworking, generous, and honest to a fault. For our friends we keep, their hearts as ours. For those who have touched our lives for the better.

    For the non-human companions who stand with us, or slither, or fly, we give thanks. Our lives enrichened by such love and affection, silly joys, and sensitive meaning. For our responsibilities that define us, be they pet, kid, parent or sibling. For the victories than none else shall see in quiet places, too personal to share.

    For the trials that give our lives meaning, our staunch unwillingness to bend or break we give thanks to those that stand with us, proud and unflinching beneath burden’s yoke, For Divine Providence, grace, and forgiveness for those that believe, we give thanks.

    For all the gifts unknown and unspoken, for the things we do not even know, the calamities averted and the disasters missed, we give thanks. For our health and continued cognizance, our opportunities realized, our digits and limbs, our senses and our common sense, we give thanks. For our very breath and blood, for the meaning and profundity that suffuse us whether we know it or not, we give thanks.

    May you each and all be blessed with joy, contentment, and much good food this day. Be well, all.

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  4. I see miracles every time I look at a baby. You start to think about all the things that have to go just so to have one, and it’s a miracle, a common day one but the greatest of all.

    I’m thankful for this blog and Sarah, who so graciously allows me here, without which I’m not sure that I could have survived through the last 6 years.

    And I’m thankful for my son’s and the daughter-in-law that will be here for celebration.

    Happy Thanksgiving to all, may the pie be hot and the Ice cream cold.

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  5. In my particular circumstances, I am thankful for altitude.

    You’re still familiar with what Hurricane Helene did to Western North Carolina two months ago. In the lower-lying areas, floods raged. Homes were carried away, roads were washed out, towns and commercial districts of cities were choked with water and mud. Whatever you have heard of the destruction, in places it was worse than that, likely much worse.

    That was for lower-lying areas. I currently live on a hill. We got lashed by winds more than waterlogged, roofs battered or smashed more than foundations undermined, roads blocked by fallen trees rather than washed away and turned to mud. For all that, we were fairly fortunate. Water and power were out for two weeks, not for the two months and counting in other places. We didn’t need FEMA to put our lives back together — and pity the poor people who did need FEMA, because they got 2024 FEMA.

    There are multiple senses in which disaster came very close to me this year, but did not strike me head-on. For that, I am thankful.

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    1. Apparently the Administration (or maybe the governor of NC?) had a big spruce that survived Helene cut down and shipped to DC so it could be the White House Christmas tree.

      These people are going to be clueless and tasteless right down to the wire.

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        1. True. But You’d-Better-Call-Her-Doctor Jill Biden made some big speech about how the tree was a Helene survivor and in fact got named “Treemendous” because it was still standing.

          I mean, that tree could’ve been used better once cut down. Say, to turn into lumber to let the Amish (still working in WNC as far as I know) build a tiny house for a family living in a tent. So that way, the state of North Carolina or FEMA could declare it “not up to code” and confiscate it.

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  6. My Calmer Half is still alive.
    So are many of my friends, and they remain friends to us.
    There have been blessings and miracles poured upon us that this should be so… and while I could list many more things, for this I am most grateful.

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  9. There are still a few grumbles, though. Here in Kalifornia the junta is still frauding itself into power. Several House races where the Republican was winning solidly have mysteriously overturned as they still continue ‘finding’ Democrat ballots to count 3 weeks after the election. Why is it only the Democrats that can’t get their ballots in on time?

    Sorry to be a downer, but the entire Kalifornia election apparatus needs a high-pressure enema.

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    1. Perhaps DOJ’s Civil Rights division V2.0 after 1/20/25’s revisions will have something to do about such shenanigans.

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    2. Personally, this was an interesting year, but I’ve survived it. The knee injury ate most of the first half of the year, with side issues discovered along the way making me a frequent flyer for the diagnostic services. (Nothing critical, and the knee repair and new medications eliminated most of the problems. I don’t need a cane, so that’s a huge advance.)

      The election results in state were usual-to-good. The lefties all got the statewide offices, while our district stayed a conservative stronghold. The worst of the ballot issues (stealth sales tax and very rank choice voting system) went down. Not sure about a statewide office impeachment issue–I think it was to be insurance against a Republican actually winning, but I’m hoping it will end up biting Donks in the future. Allowing marijuana workers to unionize gets me ready to stock up on popcorn…

      Still, $SPOUSE and I are reasonably healthy, no longer injured (waggles hand), and with a future looking good. I’m thankful.

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    3. Looking at the election map by counties is illuminating. There is a great blue splodge east of New York, and a blue band along the California coast. Aside from those, the whole country is solid red with sparse blue chicken pox. West Virginia, Oklahoma and Alaska are entirely free of blue pox. Only Massachusetts is all blue.

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  13. I’m healthy, I’m getting studded tires put on my 21-year-old Honda Civic tomorrow as my birthday/Christmas present to myself (birthday is Christmas Eve, 65 this time). My sister and BiL are well, and are my only family, and I cherish them.

    This phrase lit me up: “And we’re American. Give us a chance and we’ll take the universe.” I have a mental image of the chopsticks capturing the rocket booster, snug and tight.

    Watch our flames, and God’s blessings on everyone here.

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  14. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Huns and Hoydens, and echoing Dan Lane above, to all those who serve and are celebrating far from home and loved ones.

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  16. This year has turned out far better than I had feared, in many ways. Happy Thanksgiving, that most American of holidays. Let us celebrate by feasting, celebrating friends and good things, and sighing at the feetball game this evening for those inclined toward religious observances. ;)

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  21. Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Address, 1863 (yes, 1863!!!)

    The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and even soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

    “In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

    Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.

    “Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

    No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

    “It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

    “And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.”

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  22. Hmmm. As a retired military guy, I have to disagree with you on that one. Trump WAS shot. Might have been just a nick, but that would have counted for a Purple Heart, and some promotion points if he was military in a war zone. He might have to settle for the Defense of Freedom Medal, which Donald Rumsfeld said way back in 2001, was the civilian equivalent to the Purple Heart.

    What we can be thankful to the Almighty for, is that it was only a graze. It both showed to the world that Divine Intervention still exists; and it also sent a message to Trump that he’s still mortal but has His protection as long has he remains faithful to His good works.

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  24. A very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Sarah and everybody here. This has been a good year on balance. Things are looking up politically and in the writing realm for me. Family is still all with us, knock wood, and we’re healthy, again, knock wood.

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  25. What I am thankful for this holiday season-

    Dad’s knee isn’t as bad as we thought and once the doctor gave him the BIG shot in the knee his mobility came back very quickly indeed.
    We’re all healthy and while we have to lose some weight next year, it’s not like we have to catastrophically change our diets.
    In theory, I’m employed. In theory, I get paid. In practice…well, we might have good news by Christmas. If not, Plan 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12…
    Writing has been going slowly but surely, with A Roman Solist nearing the end of the second act, the world-building for the LitRPG story coming along, and occasional bits of other stories and fanfics and other things being written.
    Prepping my Substack to serve as a place to publish the LitRPG in Alpha/Beta states for pay, with a reasonable monthly and annual rate to see my early writing at some stage.
    Two friends I haven’t heard much from in the last few years have gotten in touch with me and we’re trying to arrange more time to do things in person (sadly, not romantic, both are boys and we’re all the platonic examples of heterosexuality).
    It’s cold, but the clock on building an ark has been put on hold (the rain has stopped).
    The Japan trip is still on.
    The Black Friday Cyber Book Sale is on, and I actually found one or two things to get (and hopefully more people will buy my book which is on sale).
    With Dad’s mobility coming back, going to the gym is less of a chore for me.
    Dad is moving onto the next house project, which might see us having a hot tub at home. And I get to dismantle the wisteria over the next few months.

    Not perfect, not by a long shot, but I suspect that if it was perfect, we should be preparing for The End Of The World.

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  27. I am so thankful for so many things. My father is alive and well, despite that heart thing. My mother too. My younger brother finally found a better job. I go to a good parish, and I’m always learning things. All of you here too.

    We had a really good Thanksgiving dinner.

    Finally getting shoes that fit better and had more comfy support, and magically a lot of my bodily problems going away. (My toeboxes have actually gotten wider in the four months since I got better, longer shoes, so I ended up going into a men’s extra wide/4E width. My feet still don’t look very big, but you can’t argue with comfy.)

    Trump winning did help a lot, and most people around here are more cheerful. People went out and bought a lot of stuff, which is a big sign of consumer confidence and hope.

    Notre Dame getting rebuilt, and Paris marching Our Lady’s statue home.

    The good Lord seems to have spared us an awful lot this year, and to have given us a lot of gifts that we don’t deserve. Thank you, and a shout-out to all those hard-working guardian angels.

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    1. There are more Christmas lights this year. Even just a few single strings on houses that have not had them recently. People seem more relaxed, as well.

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    2. I also have odd-fit feet. Very greatful that New Balance makes sizes 4E (and even 6E if one needs, or narrows), some of which are still made here in USA. Dang good shoes.

      Folks, feet keep changing with age. Don’t rely on 20 year old sizing. Get you feet remeasured periodically, and try a size wider if your feet hurt. Have at least two good daily wear shoes/boots that fit comfortably. Rotate daily.

      Good clean dry socks too. Essential.

      Better to wear rags and good shoes than finery and crap shoes.

      (what would an ex-Infantryman know about feet and footgear….)

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    3. Greatful for this forum, it’s hostess, and it’s various denizens. Even the ones with which I most argue. (Grin)

      Heck. Even Fred. Happy Thanksgiving.

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  28. I started playing the reading of the short story last night and my daughter was mesmerized by your accent. I told her about people wanting to hear you say, “Moose and squirrel,” because it reminds them of Russian Natasha, and the you said it about 2 seconds later to howls of laughter. Thanks for the free gift.

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  30. As I say on the occasion of birthdays, but seems apropos at this time, many happy returns of the day.

    For me, like so many here, it seems the year has been a tough one so far. I was coasting along up to November when my car got broken into in an apparently failed attempt at stealing the whole thing.

    Unfortunately, although the would-be thieves failed, (this is the second failed attempt — are the thieves getting less and less competent as years go by?) they did break a back side window, spreading glass all over the leather backseat, which cut the leather and embedded glass in it (even safety glass, it seems, can cut you and materials).

    As a result, I’ve been off work for three weeks (Insurance Company slow-walking matters). But the car is and has been in the shop and should be back with me next week. And, to quote St. Bob, all bills are paid and we’re ready to lift as soon as that happens. I am therefor thankful that my darling wife was wise enough to insist we get insurance 40 years ago and we have a long and mostly happy relationship with $Insurance_agent.

    And I am thankful for my step-grand family, with whom we, just today, shared a Thanksgiving-meal-that-couldn’t-be-beat (but no Alice). One handsome (if scruffy, but I have no room to talk — not working, I’m not shaving) grandson and two beautiful granddaughters, both in the first blush of adulthood.

    And I’m thankful for having found or been found by this wonderful, magical, and gloriously wise and perspicacious community.

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  31. I am not thankful that in the last two months I have been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and cataracts in both eyes.

    I am thankful that there are treatments available for both … although the treatment for apnea so far is a small slice of hell, but I am assured it will get better.

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  32. It has been a good Thanksgiving, for many reasons. May we all enjoy many more. Sarah, thank you for just being you. ;-)

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  33. Well, I’ve lost almost 100 pounds since last year, my wife’s editing and jewelry-selling businesses are picking up, and we still have a roof over our heads and food on the table. It more than balances out my touchy job situation (it is hard being a nearly-sixty White guy in a sea of Indian management) and some other things.

    Wife Unit is in Florida selling jewelry at a Ren Faire this month, so Daughter Unit and I had the lamest little Thanksgiving dinner ever, the only thing I know how to cook…hamburgers. Wal-Mart hamburger patties.

    They were delicious.

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    1. Years and Years Ago I saw either the saddest thing or a nasty joke.

      Guy was at the store late Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. He bought ONE item: Turkey SPAM.

      You did better than that.

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    2. There was also a year where I was reduced to eating a Hormel Compleats “turkey and dressing” as Thanksgiving lunch/supper. I was rather thankful I had two, one serving as Friday leftovers. I was even able to somewhat warm them up first.

      Ever since then, I make sure I have at least two around in my go bag at Thanksgiving. No matter how potentually sideways goes the pear-shape, I will get Thanksgiving dinner, as will anyone else around.

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