Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays – short work week, a day of eating great food with family and friends, football, and then a long weekend before entering into the Christmas Season.

But this year is different.

There are a lot of things that are different this year – we’ve all been experiencing it.  But now, with the holiday season fast approaching, I think we will start to notice and feel a lot more of those ‘differences’.

But we still get to choose how we deal with it.  We get to choose our attitude towards whatever comes our way.  We get to choose positive or negative, angry and sad or happy and cheerful.

We get to choose whether we try on new traditions when we can’t enjoy the old ones.  Or we can choose to wallow in what isn’t or what “should be”.

We get to choose.  Choose responsibly.  Choose meaningfully.

Me… I’m choosing to focus on the family around me, and maybe a Zoom, or at least a phone call, with those who won’t be around.  I’m choosing to smoke a turkey at home, and I’ll wait to have my mother-in-law’s ham when we can all be together.  I’m definitely choosing to watch some football, and maybe even convince the kids to watch the Steelers with me.  I’m choosing to have a different kind of fun from years past, but it will still be fun.  I’m choosing to give thanks for the endurance to have gotten through these struggles, and thanks for those who have helped along the way.

Happy Thanksgiving. – Dan