Football, great food and your favorite people: what's not to like?

I love all holidays except Halloween. I used to be grumpy about Valentine's Day until I met Marie. I've had the three greatest Valentine's Days of my life since we met: the girl really knows how to spice up a Valentine's Day. She is my favorite present, regardless of holiday. I mean that quite sincerely. She is endlessly desirable and delightful, except when she is being stubborn.

But I love holidays, everything about them. Especially Thanksgiving, because it combines three of my favorite things, food, football and hanging out with the family. Christmas is sometimes stressful or anticlimactic or marred by a scene. I don't know why. But we've all had the Christmas that has gone bad, with an argument or misunderstanding that left everyone staring at the floor in shame. Thanksgiving, however, is virtually foolproof. You drink, you eat, you laugh. You holler at Romo for throwing a crucial pick in the third quarter. You draw names for Christmas and take seconds. Or thirds. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, turkey gravy. Mashed potatoes. Stuffing. Fruit salad. My brother-in-law Richard's famous key lime pie. How can anyone dislike a holiday with so much going for it and so little pressure? Bring a bottle of wine, kiss the baby, chat in the kitchen and sample the summer sausage and cheese. Thanksgiving is an utterly perfect day. With many hands the prep and cleanup isn't overwhelming, and the pace is perfect. You'd have to be scroogier than Scrooge to hate Thanksgiving.

The deeper riches of the holiday seem particularly important this year. As a country and as individuals we've had a few setbacks in the last several months, and many of us are facing a mountain of uncertainty: a bigger bill stack, a leaner paycheck, a business that is being stretched and stressed, layoffs and rumors of layoffs. This week Buick laid off Tiger Woods. You know things are getting tough when Tiger Woods gets a pink slip, but I'm sure he'll land on his feet.

Thanksgiving is a great time for conversation. People congregate in the kitchen or the sitting room or around one of the ball games, and there is plenty of time to catch up. Most of us are blessed to be surrounded by some of our favorite people, so talk flows freely. Remember to take a moment to say a prayer for those who are half a world away tonight, far from their love ones as they protect ours. I hope they can all come home soon.

But conversation flows with all that good food and drink, and one of the things we'll all be talking about this year, along with the great deal we got on our last fill up and how good the turkey smells, is how we're scaling down expectations this Christmas. Most of the people I know are planning a smaller holiday, fewer gifts, a few things for the kids and nothing extravagant. Maybe we'll give more thought to being together. The tree might be shorter than usual. It's an opportunity to be a little more still this time, a little less rushed, to stop and really hear the words to Silent Night, my favorite Christmas carol. All is calm. All is bright. A night of a new hope born into the world, a hope that still lives, that makes all our most tender and noble wishes possible, a hope of redemption and peace and renewal. Thanksgiving is a glorious meal but in another way it's an appetizer to the holidays, an afternoon that invites us to begin the winter season with love, devotion and a deepening commitment to all the things that matter most in our lives, the people around the table in our favorite place on earth. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I love you and wish you well.