I was awakened just before 7 by my wife of nearly a dozen years asking for my help putting the Turkey in the oven for our family gathering today.

We are using a roasting pan that we inherited from my Mom 11 years ago.

On Twitter there are plenty of tweets about the Macy’s Parade, and I’m guessing I’ll see or hear the words “Happy Thanksgiving” over 100 times today.

I made a quick trip to the store to buy a few items and did some people watching.

Husbands and wives, young and old were there.  Some with kids, some with walkers.  Someone had a pumpkin pie and a bouquet of flowers.  Someone else was buying generic brand cereal to make sure her funds would feed her family.

Now it’s nearly 11am and soon I’ll be seeing my daughters and their husbands and the grandkids.  Also joining us around the table will be one of my wife’s sisters and two of her brothers.  Her son with his sons will be here either today or tomorrow, and my son and his wife will be here too.

We are blessed.

For the things we have.

For the things we don’t have.

We live in a country where we don’t have to worry about bombs raining down on us, or people trying to kill us.

We live in a day and age where no one should go hungry today, as many of the soup kitchens, rescue missions and food banks are serving or passing out tons of food.

We have our health. My grandson Calvin was recently diagnosed with far-sightedness and now he has glasses.  I’ve worn glasses for 40+ years myself.  I know how valuable the gift of sight is.

I also have a stepson who has been going blind for the past dozen years.  Yet Ian is moving forward, going to school, learning computer programming, and being involved in his sons lives.

There are stories I could tell of hardships overcome by every one of our kids, but the point of those stories is not the heartache, but the lessons learned.

In a few hours we will be laughing, eating, playing, and enjoying each others company.

I hope and pray that you and I never lose sight of what we have, what others need, and how we are simply stewards of the “things” we have been blessed with.