Thankfulness

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, I'm ready and willing to acknowledge the start of the holiday season.

I kicked it off yesterday with my annual screening of The Muppet Christmas Carol, and in a little bit I'm gonna venture out to Madison Street to do some fact-finding for a holiday-themed Forest Park Review column.

But before I do that, I thought I'd do a belated post on the things I'm thankful for. It will be a list of 32, in honor of my number of years on this planet. Figure that works since I'm literally a Thanksgiving baby.

1. A drama-free Thanksgiving spent with close friends and a Canadian
2. My awesome and varied network of friends
3. Music as a birthday gift
4. Live shows to warm up cold nights
5. My emo kitty
6. Good books (Specifically, Margaret Atwood and Dennis Lehane)
7. A novel-in-progress that is finally making progress
8. Work-subsidized travel (only a week till SF! Wooo!)
9. Sleeping in under a heap of warm blankets
10. My new ability to set boundaries with overzealous colleagues
11. My soon-to-be manager, who heralds my arrival with fanfare
12. The possibility of Wrestlemania in ATL
13. An MFA degree that is so close I can taste it
14. Nieces and nephews
15. Enthusiasm
16. New friends
17. Self-reliance
18. Intelligence
19. Optimism
20. Muppets
21. Gilmore Girls
22. A dedicated writing partner-in-crime
23. Pro wrestling
24. An unexpected avalanche of FB birthday love
25. Hoodies and sweatshirts
26. WWE-o-thons with a fellow wrestling fanatic
27. Giggle fits
28. Chocolate
29. Creativity
30. Hugs
31. Storytelling
32. Life's ability to eventually sort itself out