Another Thanksgiving Day has arrived offering the chance for each and all to consider their blessings.

The blessing of life, most fundamentally, because we are all here for another year, or you wouldn't be reading this. Families will gather with all the joys, all the tension, and all the bittersweet memories that the holiday entails.

We should be thankful for our good fortune of living in this land of plenty. Yes, putting food on the table can be a struggle for many, but relative to the scarcity seen in much of the undeveloped world, our challenges pale by comparison.

We can also be thankful for a generosity of spirit that again saw many making food donations so that no one has to go without the dinner that is the centerpiece of this American holiday.

We can be thankful that Thanksgiving itself is such a wonderfully unfettered holiday. It does not divide by religion. There are no gifts to buy. Until recently, there was little buying and selling. The fact that greed is changing that part of the equation is distressing.

We can be thankful we live in a country where we are free to debate, disagree, challenge authority and speak our minds, all of which will happen over Thanksgiving dinners and desserts, but not too much, hopefully, to make the day disagreeable.

We should be thankful for our military personnel who by choice, not conscription, serve and defend this country, leaving many of them far away from their homes on this holiday.

And we can be thankful as well for the firefighters, police officers, hospital and convalescent care workers, and all emergency personnel, who will work this day.

There are so many things for which to be thankful.

So once again, let's enjoy the food, family, friends and football. Tone down the use of those mobile devices. Share a few good laughs.

It's Thanksgiving.