I’m writing from a porch swing at Shiloh, watching my brother Pete as he sifts through several boxes of his old keepsakes. Every now and then he calls his wife over to look at some ridiculous or awesome piece of his past. (Ridiculous = his unopened Star Wars action figures; awesome = an original reel of the Return of the Jedi trailer.) The turkey’s in the oven, the Macy’s Day parade is on, and the sheep are bleating in the pasture behind me. There’s some terrible stuff happening in the world right now—and some terrible stuff in your lives, I’m sure—but today is a day to direct our attention instead to all the good and beautiful things that undergird the broken parts, like an underpainting that refuses to be marred even as the artist touches and retouches the imperfections.
We wanted to share a few items for your perusal in case you check in before or after your post-feast nap.
Here’s a brand new live performance of “Don’t You Want to Thank Someone,” which we recorded at North Wind Manor. It features my pals Nate Dugger on keys, James Gregory on upright bass, and my son Asher on percussion.
This is a Thanksgiving poem I wrote a few years back, which some folks have read aloud at their gatherings. It’s weird, but whatever.
And if you want something a thousand times more beautiful, here’s a benediction by Robert Farrar Capon (which you Hutchmooters will remember Pete reading before the final meal).
And finally, we present a fun song from our friends at the Tokens Show (a live radio show in the spirit of A Prairie Home Companion), called “Thank You, Thanksgiving!”