If/When you give "thanks" this Thanksgiving... Who or What are you giving thanks to?

At our house it means the biggest social to-do of the year. Our Thanksgiving tradition is a little odd and the result of a quirk. Prior to 94, we usually alternated Thanksgivings between the sister in law’s & our place. But in that year, the wife’s family and the bulk of my own had committed to Thanksgiving in other cities. None of our close friends was native to this area, so they were without family members here (except for their kids). As a result, we wound up hosting dinner. The primary reason we wound up with the mission was about having the space, china, crystal, silver, etc. to handle a crowd. It worked out beautifully, and has been a tradition ever since, to the consternation of our relatives.

I don’t give thanks to anybody, I express gratitude for how fortunate I am. There does not need to be a specific recipient of gratitude.

Thanksgiving day is just another day only usually with more extended family members. There are not as many as there used to be since it appears that not everything that happens in Vegas DOES stay in Vegas; some people bring it home with them and the family has split over it. Prayers may or may not be offered depending on whose home it is held in. Those who do offer up are either Catholic, former Catholic or attend a very small evangelical church. Those who do not have religious proclivities wait patiently for those who do to finish addressing their deities then we dive in.

I’m thankful my husband doesn’t have to work for four days. He had to use up all of his vacation time this year when he fell sick back in February (he’s still not well but goes to work every week.) It’s been a long wait for this holiday.

The thanks goes to all of us. It’s a recognition that we all depend on each other. Each of us is supported by the unthinkably vast network of beings doing what needs to be done.

I’m expressing it to the room of people that I am sitting with (my family at the table). However, who do I think is responsible for all the great things and my good fortune? Maybe Lady Luck.

I look side to side and thank my Wife, Family and Friends for their continued love and fellowship. I look up and thank God for allowing the good things we have and have experienced over the years. I also look up and ask for those good things to keep on coming, and for Strength to persevere through the not so good times.

I than God for:
• Being in a nation where one can toss out enough food to feed a dozen 3rd world families at the end of the party or function.
• Cold running water, not even having to go to hot, I can turn the tap, no sluffing to the communal well 100 yards away to get some brown water and that is just for cooking and not even bathing or washing clothes.
• That I live in a nation where you don’t have to coop over an open fire unless it is some celebration where you will toss out food at the end.
• That I live in a nation where electric power is a given, the streets are lit at night, the AC hums, and there is plenty to run all of the creature comforts.
• I am thankful I live in a nation where there is so many places to eat, I don’t even have to cook, much less wait on the UN aid drop; and still toss out uneaten food as if it were nothing.
• I am thankful I have smooth roads to travel on and dodge distracted drivers.
• I am thankful. There are 300 channels I can waste time with if I choose to spend my time watching TV.
• I am thankful to be in a nation where one can do all sorts of iniquity as long as the masses say it is legal.
• I am thankful to be in a nation that has a 2nd amendment.

There is a lot to be thankful for, but there is a lot of things that still need to change too.

I don’t thank anyone in specific. I just think about the things I am grateful to have because it reminds me that I could have it a lot worse.

Whenever someone asks this question (which is a good one), inevitably people say, “I don’t give thanks to anyone, I’m just grateful…”

Is being grateful not exactly the same as giving thanks, in that it must be directed toward someone/something? Who or what are these people grateful to? Or do they simply mean that they feel lucky?

To me it means that I sit and think about how fortunate I am to have what I have. Makes you feel good and puts things into perspective. You stop and think before you complain about something petty or unimportant.

Some people have a god that they give thanks to, and that’s great. But even if you’re not directly thanking someone, you’re still doing the same thing when reflecting on what you’re thankful for.

This year was especially excellent in that my older brother, which whom I’ve been estranged fo some twenty years, showed up and spent the day with us yesterday. I now have his phone number and email address. We still have ‘issues’ to address, but the seal on the door is at least broken. It would take nothing less than direct divine intervention to make this happen. (You guys may not believe this, but I can sometimes be a little stubborn)

@majorrich: Is it more that you’re mad at him or that he’s mad at you?

No, @dappled_leaves, it mustn’t necessarily be directed at someone or something. Feel free to pull up an exact definition to prove your point, but that really doesn’t matter in this context.
At all.

@canidmajor I don’t have a “point to prove.” I am asking a question. Thanks for the generosity of spirit.

@jca It’s very complicated, but the roots go waay back. Actually it starts that he was mad at Mother. And I’m stuck in the middle not completely understanding, yet mad anyway. Mostly because I’m catching the fallout from their feud merely because I happened to have a house big enough to take her in when she couldn’t take care of herself any more.