November 28, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. Thanksgiving 2019.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. You don't need to figure anything out. The day takes care of itself. First the parade, followed by the dog show. Next an early dinner of turkey and all the trimmings and finally football. For me I was lucky to be invited to the home of Linda Creath for the Thanksgiving feast along with the other Creath family. That meant around the table were two old ladies, three of the next generation and three grandchildren. We were missing Kate. We were a merry group. The food was delicious as always. My only contribution was to cheer. And to top it off, Christina brought me a meal when she drove me home, so I could eat leftover turkey dinner tomorrow. My cup runneth over. The day after thanksgiving we decorated for Christmas. The same for Christina. But she had three busy weekends coming up so she and the girls decorated their tree and the house two weeks ago. And the outside lights were installed at the same time. Tomorrow she will turn on the outside lights as well as the tree lights. Christmas will be officially just down the road. I on the other hand have had my outside lights glowing brightly for three weeks. My lights are all white so are not so obviously Christmas. And I like them so I keep them going from five to midnight. This year I have decided to be lazy. I am not putting up any Christmas decorations this year. I leave December 18 for Christmas so I will keep the boxes in the closet. I am not sure what that says about me. I am busily writing Christmas cards so I am not a total Scrooge. Christmas 2019 has been pleasant. But this is the first Thanksgiving without Ken. We were all trying not to remember the empty chair at the table. Instead, as always, we counted out blessings.