For a few years, our family has participated in a dinner ritual. Jim's cousin, Chelsea, had given us a sea turtle "bank" after a brief visit with us several years ago.

"Turtley" has seen better days. One of his flippers was broken off and Jim glued it back on. His paint is chipped in lots of places and he could probably use a good cleaning, but he has held our gratitude each day. As we sit down to dinner, we each take a quarter from a stash in a kitchen cup and say what we are thankful for that day, placing the quarter in Turtley. At the end of the month, we empty Turtley and mail a check to a charity of our choice. We keep a list, but sometimes there is a sudden emergency and we direct the money to that--house fires, floods and oil spills, to name a few.

Daily gratitude is a wonderful way to remind ourselves of all that we have to be truly thankful for. It's so easy to get caught up in the things we don't have, the things we wish we had--or even things we think we deserve. So much of our culture and media focus on the latter. The danger is that we overlook all of the bounty in our lives. Our health, the love of family and friends. These are the things for which we should be most thankful.

On this day of thanks, may you be well loved, well fed and warm. And may you be present to all of your bounty.

Happy Thanksgiving!