“After everything that’s happened, how can the world still be so beautiful? Because it is.” 
           — Margaret Atwood, in ‘Oryx and Crake’

We’re celebrating Thanksgiving today here in the US, a day to gather and feast and remember all that we have to be thankful for. Even in these dark and uncertain times – or maybe especially in these dark and uncertain times – it’s important for all of us to reflect on the good things in our lives, and to give thanks for what we have.

I am thankful for all of you in blogland who come and visit here each week, sharing your support and your kind words and just, well . . . your very presence. All those years ago (almost 16, I think) when I wrote my first post, I had no idea what a wonderful community I was entering, and what good friends I would find here. Thank you so much for hanging out with me.

And now, I have a little announcement. Remember last year . . . when I blogged an advent calendar in December? Well. I had no intention of doing that again. But then . . . after the election, I knew that I needed to find hope and joy and connection more than ever. And I’ve sensed that a lot of you do, too. So I decided to create . . . another advent calendar for all of us. Not a religious or sacred kind of advent calendar, not a countdown-to-Christmas sort of thing. Just a daily reminder that . . . we’re here. We’re still here and we’re still standing and we still care.

Inspired by the lyrics in Old Lang Syne, I hope you’ll join me every day from December 1 until December 24 – beginning this Sunday – to share a Cup o’ Kindness.

Come.
Fill your cup!