THANKSGIVING EVE The old snow-packed trail criss-crossed over the animal tracks down the hill into

the vale where the opossums carried their young on their backs and the rabbits had turned white with the snows while the elk grew thick fur and gathered their does. The distant cabin betrayed itself with a curl of smoke from what appeared to be a blazing fire in the hearth. A hearth probably decorated with the season's yield of fruit and fir branches and choke cherry berries and mistletoe brought down from the north as well as tufts of old hay gleened from the south field. The sleigh slid down the slippery slope on its way back from the iconic white steepled church on a hilltop that had poured forth its people each carrying a sack of cards and gifts that they would take to the local mailstop and distribute to the folks lucky enough to live in such a pristine and idyllic area, lucky enough to give to their fellow man whole-heartedly accompanied by song and wassail as they made their way through the throng of snow-laden pine trees and fir. The heart it doth stir! So, arriving home at last, they plodded into the warm house and greeted the grandparents who were too old to have left and driven all over the chilled lands in an open sleigh. Greeted by the smell of chestnuts roasting, they slurped down the warm remnants of granpa's hot-buttered rum and passed around the wassail, grateful to be together on this special night that comes only once per year. Happy Thanksgiving!, they sang as the doorbell rang and still more guests poured into the house like warm honey, their cheer sticking around for the rest of the year and into the next. Not all the world's money could buy this much happiness. God bless us, they cried, God bless us every one! And the pleasant night wore on around them outside their door, with animals gathering in the light beaming from their windows and falling stars lighting up the night for brief, wonderous seconds. Spending their short lives for those below. Below in the snow. ---------------------------------------mindbringer, 21 November 2012