Today is the day for reflecting on the things we appreciate and are thankful for. To that end, I include the following inspirational quotes about thankfulness and how it enhances our lives.

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
Albert Schweitzer

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
Oprah Winfrey

The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
Henry Ward Beecher

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie

Be thankful today and unlock the fullness in your life. Besides, the docs say being thankful is good for you.

Have a blessed day, whether you have a modest meal or a feast. Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey is traditional fare at Thanksgiving but there are some mighty untraditional ways of cooking it.

Nowadays, not everyone cooks the traditional oven roasted turkey. The advent of cooking bags ensure an evenly cooked bird that is moist throughout. Turkey on the grill is a novel way to prepare your bird. You can add the sweet and smoky taste of mesquite wood chips to turn up the taste of a tired traditional.

And although it isn’t Thanksgiving in some families unless the turkey is deep-fried, about 100 injuries a year and several house fires are attributed to this method.

Some safety tips for frying your turkey include:

*Make sure your turkey is thoroughly thawed. A frozen turkey dropped into hot oil with produce a plume of steam that could injure people standing nearby.

*Lower the turkey into the fryer s-l-o-w-l-y. Use a broomstick or long rod on which to suspend the turkey and lower it from a safe distance. Never stand over the fryer when you put the turkey in.

*Don’t overfill the fryer with oil. You can use the water-displacement method to determine how much oil you need. Place the turkey in the fryer and fill with water to about 1 or 2 inches below the top of the turkey. Make a line to mark this as the amount of oil needed to fry your turkey. Thoroughly dry the pot of water before adding oil.

*Don’t fry near flammable objects. (This is one you should have already thought of.)

For more information on all the ways to prepare a delicious bird for Thanksgiving, click here.

This year is the 80th year of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Originally started by Macy’s largely immigrant employees in 1924, the parade has become an American tradition. The parade has gone on every year except during the early 40s as the nation conserved rations and dealt with the seriousness of WWII. Macy’s donated the balloons to the war effort as the rubber was a much-needed resource. The parade resumed in 1945.

The 1947 film, Miracle on 34th Street brought the parade to the attention of the public outside of New York City and with the advent of televised parades in the 50s, the entire country was able to watch and enjoy the spectacle. Over the years more balloons and musical acts were added, the collaboration with Walt Disney leading to the addition of many character balloons.

The parade always goes on, rain or shine and always features great music, marching bands, stars of Broadway and television and of course, Santa Claus.

For information on this year’s parade route and entertainment, check out the official Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade website.