For years, our traditional holiday greeting has been in the form of a Thanksgiving poem and family picture. We wanted to share this year's rendition, titled "Throwing Thanksgiving," and express our thanks to you, the readers of our column.

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Gratitude is a blanket

Thrown across life,

All

Of life,

Bright joy and somber pain both warmed.

But be sure it doesnt cover your head

See out,

Recognize the real world in all of its

Exquisite beauty and dulling pain.

It is you who throws the blanket,

But he who gradually transforms it

Into a comforter, The Comforter.

Thanks-giving is a light

Switch thrown on to

Reveal truth and dissipate shadow.

But watch that it doesnt shine in your eyes, blinding

See out,

Understand that privilege is stewardship, and

Contributing is broadening.

It is you who throws the switch,

But he who powers the filament and turns the glow

Into inspiration, so light becomes light.

For our children now, grown and gone,

Outside the reach of our protection and guidance,

We ask for one overarching, undergirding blessing:

The Holy Spirit

The warmth and the light,

The comfort and the inspiration.

We ask them to throw the blanket and throw the switch

That bathes them in the warmth and light of Thanksgiving,

And we ask him in our absence

To grant the gift that gratitude gathers:

The Holy Ghost,

To shield and save, to illume and ignite.

And of you and for you, friends and family, along with our thanks,

We ask the same.