Thanksgiving

A tradition second in importance only to the Thanksgiving holiday itself, the annual Thanksgiving blog post is a treasured one in this space! My blog forebear Jessica made a point of highlighting her enthusiasm for Thanksgiving annually (as you can see from the archives), and it’s one that she and I share. All holidays have at least something to recommend them, but Thanksgiving is really the whole package, and certainly high on my personal list of favorites.

In this era of all days being the same, Thanksgiving has snuck up on me this year. In a normal fall full of Admissions travel, I know Thanksgiving is just about here when I start feeling like I can’t stand the thought of dealing with another airport, at which point we promptly head to the airport to visit my wife’s family for the holiday. Things are different this year, a sentiment from which I’ve gotten a lot of mileage lately.

Thanksgiving is perhaps the most literally-named of the major American holidays. I’ve always appreciated a holiday predicated upon the idea of slowing down for a few moments to reflect upon all the good things in life. Of course, if you’re cooking, traveling, or hosting family and friends, it may not seem slow and relaxing at all, but here we’ll dwell on the positives. Non-political, non-religious, and basically universal in the US, Thanksgiving is a great standard bearer for the sadly dwindling category of Things We Can All Agree On.