So, after a half bottle of wine, after Thanksgiving dinner, before dessert...

[NRaleighLiberal]

It was a unique Thanksgiving for us. We have one daughter in Madagascar, finishing off her trip where she is working on a travel guide and visiting non-profits (she was there for two years in the Peace Corps). Our other daughter is at her boyfriend's house - and that is good (she is an anorexic who, after teetering on the edge of life itself at age 18, is working on putting a good life together, and for that we are thankful and proud). It is my wife, my best friend of 30 years, and I - and our two chocolate labs. It is quiet, but lovely.

We ate dinner in our dining room amongst many ghosts - my and my wife's dads both passed away over the last few years. So many dinners there with my dad, especially - so many laughs. I am "only 53", but there already seems to be so much water under the bridge.

Just wanted to let you at DU know how special you are, how special this place is to let off steam, run into occasional trouble after ill-advised or poorly thought out words - it is therapy. Obama, not Bush, is our president, and that is a hell of an improvement. It isn't perfect, but no presidency - no person - is. We can work with it - it is important, I think, to continue to be loud when we don't agree. It is how change happens, it is how things improve - not being lock step, not being brainwashed, but reaching deep down inside and doing and speaking what we each think is right - and hopefully, it all gets averaged out to progress.

Anyway - have a wonderful Thanksgiving, all, a dot of blue in a neighborhood of red in North Raleigh, NC. The baked Cod is gone, the apple crisp is ready. Off I go!

[Toucano]

1. Sweet. n-t

[Bluzmann57]

2. Thank you

And may peace be with you at all times. Hope you enjoyed the apple crisp.

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. Thanks...was really good! Made from Honey Crisp, Braeburn and York apples

from the NC Farmer's market with Trader Joe vanilla. My wife always uses an old Betty Crocker cookbook to make it.

Lots of leftovers!

[Cha]

3. Thanksgiving at your house sounds

lovely and thank you for your warm greetings.

I'm grateful too we President Obama and are dealing in reality now..such as it is.

[Berry Cool]

7. I was going to say,

as many qualms as I have about him, one of the things I'm thankful for is that I have a President Obama to complain about.

Happy Thanksgiving.

[Cha]

14. Yeah, we are fortunate

in that.:) Happy Thanksgiving to you, BerryCool~

[barbtries]

4. happy thanksgiving to you

from the shores of Lake Lynn! :)

[bbinacan]

5. I used to live at Sail Boat Bay and

Cumberland Cove. Nice area.

[barbtries]

8. how long ago?

i live at sailboat bay, since 10-07.

[bbinacan]

12. I lived there in the mid-90s for 2 years

and then moved to Cumberland Cove for a couple of years before buying a house in 1998.

[Rick Myers]

6. Happy Thanksgiving!

[JohnnyLib2]

9. Happy Thanksgiving and many more.

:hi:

[BanzaiBonnie]

10. DH and I dined on deli turkey, cranberry, and cream cheese on croissant

and our two pups sat and watched hopefully...

It's never been just the two of us for Thanksgiving. But we were happy with our dinner and our own projects.

[omega minimo]

11. Beautifully written (great OP headline!), well met, lovely thoughts, K&R

Please write more OPs. Wonderful holidays to you.

[cali]

13. Lovely post. thanks for writing it

just came back from thanksgiving which I spent with friends as I always do- adopted family is a more apt description. It was a smaller gathering than usual There were fourteen of us. My friends live on a farm. The Turkey- a behemoth 23 pounder was raised there. We had an abundance of good, largely local food and lots of political conversation.
I ate too much pie.

[emilyg]

15. Thank you.