I’d like to offer a more traditional message of thanksgiving in this post, and wish all of our Hot Air community a happy Thanksgiving Day with their families and friends.  I’ll be spending my day with our extended Minnesota family.  My daughter-in-law’s family lovingly adopted us years ago and invite us to all of their family functions, and so we will get to relax with the whole crew over a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  They have been a huge blessing to the First Mate and me, and I’m very thankful for that.

Of course, we will be thankful for the phone service that connects us to our families back home in California, where Thanksgiving Day is significantly warmer.  I’m sure they’ll be thankful that the temperature won’t get down to the 41 degrees it will be today in Minnesota.  We will catch up with them this morning and wish them a happy Thanksgiving, too, and be thankful for the opportunity to do so.

What will be the blessings I keep in mind for today, and for which I will thank our Lord?  Of course, first and foremost will be our families and friends.  After that, as always, I will thank Him for the good fortune to live in this nation where men and women can be free to pursue their dreams.  I will thank the Lord for the men and women who safeguard that liberty and security, whether they be in Iraq, Afghanistan, on the seas, in the air, or in our local police and fire stations, ready to risk their own lives to secure ours.  That is an awesome and moving dedication that may be difficult to comprehend fully, but I am fully grateful for its existence.

I’ll also be thankful for this forum, in which I get to express my sense of liberty, The Boss who graciously allows me to earn a living while doing so, my partner Allahpundit, and all of the readers and commenters who make it possible.  It is such a blessing to be part of Hot Air, and the last six years of blogging has been a dream come true.  Thank you, all of you, and may God bless you and your families on this contemplative holiday.

I’ll try to take the rest of the day off, but if I get some cute video of the granddaughters, I’ll be back.