The holidays are upon us, where I can once again marvel at my Man-Friend and his ability to invent new complaints about why we have to have “so many lights” (says him) on the outside of the house…  Last year, it was he is “afraid of ladders.”

Afraid… Of Ladders…..  Says the guy who has rappelled from helicopters and jumped out of perfectly good airplanes…

But I will save that…

My Man-Friend has this crazy tradition.  It started long ago in his family, and he says that his family has done it since he can remember.  It gives everyone a chance to reflect upon the year, pick out what they felt was good and explain sometimes why they felt the way they felt.

And so began the Thankfulness Round Table…

I found out about this little tradition on our own first Thanksgiving together, which we spent at his parents house, and later on that week, at mine…  Imagine my surprise when he started it off by saying that he was thankful for me.  It actually startled me a little when he said it, right there in front of everyone at the table.  Hard to top that one…

He even took this with him when he joined the military, and one year, as he tells it, while far from home (“and far forward” he says) and eating turkey and trimmings that had to be flown to him, he went around the circle of friends and comrades he had and asked them what they were “thankful for” this year.  As you can imagine, ask soldiers far from home what they are thankful for and the answers are going to range from “the Army and their cold food” and “air support” all the way to “Christina Aguilera’s tits.”

But when it came to my Man-Friend’s turn as they sat there, this is what he said:

I am thankful for this food, for being above ground and having the warrior spirit I have.  I am thankful for my rifle, my countrymen that provide it for me and the opportunity to serve.  I am thankful to have luke warm food, that didn’t come from a mylar bag.  I am thankful most of all for the privilege to be here among this villianous company of rough and dangerous men.  I can think of only one other place I would rather all of us be…

This year, I am going to be the one to start the roundtable.

I am thankful to be a citizen of the greatest country God ever gave man.  I am thankful for the food God has blessed our family with.  I am thankful for the many blessings that God has given me.  I am thankful for my son and my husband, because I can’t imagine my life before them, nor can imagine my life without them.  I am thankful my husband will not spend another Thanksgiving in grave danger; and I pray for the many other wives and mothers whose husbands and sons (and daughters too) are spending Thanksgiving far from home; very likely in grave danger.

I am thankful there is an election soon, because there is much to be done.  I am thankful that this worthless excuse for a leader and all of his cronies are serving on the borrowed time of the Lame Duck term.  I am thankful that there are still men and women who will stand up and speak out about what they believe and think.  I am thankful for Fox News, the Internet, and Victory Girls.  

I am thankful for cranberries, turkey quesadillas, pie of any kind, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, the Food Network, The Pioneer Woman Cookbook, football on television, Black Friday, and Yoga pants.

And most of all, I am thankful for the opportunity to exercise my dangerous freedom.

So if you get a chance, start this tradition in your family this year.  You may be surprised what you hear.

Eat up, and Go Cowboys…..