Gratitude Week -- Monday

Seeing that it is Thanksgiving Week here, and seeing that i'm one of the people talking about how thankfulness and gratitude need to come before the upcoming holiday season, i'm going to spend a couple of days talking about things i'm grateful for.

Today, i'm grateful to live in a country where there is freedom of religion.

Yesterday we got to attend a wonderful church service. We didn't have to sneak over to someone's home or secret meeting place to do it. Instead we got to drive over, and Sweetie was even able to help a friend there jump off his car (another thing to be grateful for, good jumper cables -- investing in a great pair several years ago has come in handy more than once).

While there, we sat in a clean, comfortable sanctuary in nice seats, not on a dirt floor in a hut, or huddled up in a semi-dark room hoping no one knew what we were doing.

After the service, we drank good coffee and chatted with friends, instead of having to sneak away carefully, and we got to talk over what we had learned openly, not having to hide the fact that we had been there.

Also, i'm grateful i got to attend the service of my choice, as did anyone else in this country, and that those who choose not to attend any at all don't have to, and we can still all be friends.

Today, i'm praying for people who don't have these freedoms.


Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Bangladesh

Canadian Western Agribition -- IPSCO Place, Regina, SK, Canada (Canada's premier agriculture showcase; through the 26th)

False Confessions Day -- internet generated, and not for the faint of heart

Feast day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin -- Catholic Christian

Festival of Madonna della Salute -- Venice, Italy

Furniture Memory Day -- an internet generated test of your memory; see if you remember where you got each piece of furniture you own, and how much it cost

Gerard d'Aboville Day -- marking the day, in 1991, he arrived in Ilwaco, WA, US, after departing Japan 4 months earlier in a rowboat!

Gingerbread Day

National Military Families Recognition Day -- US (by Presidential Proclamation in 1993)

National Stuffing Day -- various dates given on many sites, so if you enjoy stuffing, celebrate them all

No Music Day -- www.nomusicday.com for the explanation

Our Lady Halfsower/ Our Lady Manysower -- Greece (a good Greek farmer has half of his field sown by the Feast of Presentation.)

Revolution Day -- Mexico (observed)

St. Gelasius' Day

Ugly Day -- Fairy Calendar

World Hello Day -- unofficial but fun

World Television Day -- International


Anniversaries Today:

South Carolina becomes the 12 US State, 1789


Birthdays Today:

Ken Griffey, Jr., 1969
Troy Aikman, 1966
Bjork, 1965
Cherry Jones, 1956
Goldie Hawn, 1945
Harold Ramis, 1944
Tweety Bird, 1942
Juliet Mills, 1941
Marlo Thomas, 1938
Joseph Campanella, 1927
Stan Musial, 1920
Coleman Hawkins, 1904
Rene Magritte, 1898
Hetty Green, 1834
William Beaumont, 1785
Voltaire, 1694


Today in History:

Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem; this is the event commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah, BC164
The Pilgrims, aboard the Mayflower, reach what is now called Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, and sign the Mayflower Compact, 1620
Richard Johnson, a free black, is granted 550 acres in Virginia, 1654
In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight, 1783
Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic, 1791
First Jewish Reform congregation in US forms, Charleston, SC, 1824
Moses F Gale patents a cigar lighter, 1871
Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph), 1877
Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator, 1922
First commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper), 1935
The Alcan Highway is completed, 1942*
The British Natural History Museum announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull is a hoax, 1953
The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and SRI, 1969
The Dayton Peace Agreement is initialed at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1995
NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members, 2002


*Not opened to general vehicular traffic until the next year