Another Thanksgiving Day looms near, and here I am, once more swirling with thoughts of a family get together, lots of snooze-inducing turkey, and all the things I can get done over the long weekend (no, not shopping, please)!

But wait. I’m missing something. Again. OK, OK. I know it well. I should be thankful.

Of course, as a stereotype-affirming artist-author, my tendencies run toward the gloomy, moody side of the how-do-you-view-life prism. It’s tough being thankful when life gives you so many opportunities to focus on what has gone or can go wrong, right? I mean, just over the last two nights, people have been rioting—as in throwing and burning stuff—because something terrible happened three months ago, and because people can’t find a better way to express their frustrations. Among other things. All of which can darken that world view prism a lot more.

Sometimes we have to pause, step back, and start a list. OK, posting one here would be corny, cliché, even, so I won’t. I’ll just tell you what I do to fill that list. I start with the little, everyday things I regularly miss or willfully ignore. I notice those tidbits of our world we walk by and which if we take a few seconds to consider, would knock us off our gloom-doom mood. I’m thankful for these things and for the One who put them there.