Thankfully Thankful & Full to the Brim.

Future Wife and I embarked on three…count them, one, two, three Thanksgivings this year and yes sir- we rocked them all. Early highlights seem to be Erin’s sweet potatoes, Kim’s apple pie, and fleece sweatpants. It was my first Thanksgiving not in Maine and there were twinges of regret when missing out on Wednesday night's Bay Lines' reunion. But this has been a year that is all about changing things up for the O’Connell family and Thanksgiving was no different. The folks have moved, Erin is preggers and Kim and I are getting closer and closer to making our relationship official…officially awesome.

Now it’s Monday and I had my first leftover turkey sandwich for lunch. It was delicious. And because the weather is so freakin’ nice today, I ate it outside at the old picnic table out in the parking lot. It’s Cyber Monday for office drones and a chance for those people not tough or crazy enough to tackle Black Friday to cash in on deals. But if you do your shopping on-line, how will you get pepper-sprayed? That seems lame. There is not even a chance you could get trampled. Where is the fun in that? We need to inject some danger into Cyber Monday and no, I don’t think identity fraud will cut it.

But today is also a day to reflect and look forward. The year is coming to a close and Christmas is coming in hot. We just spent a long weekend zeroing in on what we are thankful for and now we’ll spend four weeks thinking about funny things to put in our loved one’s stocking. It’s time for buying Christmas trees, dropping hints about what kind of gifts you want, and hoping none of your fantasy football studs gets hurt with the playoffs starting in a couple weeks.

It’s a fun time of year.

Here are some things I’m thankful for, listed in no particular order.

Kim- because what I have with her is what I’ve always wanted.

My parents moving closer and being healthy.

Erin having a bun in the oven.

The Black Keys- because they’re fun to listen and instantly make me want to play drums.

Darren Sproles, Johnny Knox, Ray Rice- for helping get me through my fantasy football season. Special thanks to Jeff for agreeing to trade Rice.

Not being bald and having all of my teeth- I just don’t want to lose either hair or teeth. Call me vain, but it’s the truth.

Having a job is pretty awesome.

Gas prices in the suburbs.

The NBA lockout being over.

Marly and Zach for lending us Madmen so we could finish season four. But now that we finished it, what do we watch next?

HBO for making both Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones.

Herman Cain for being so gosh darn funny.

Herman Cain for also not being a viable presidential candidate.

WXPN in Philadelphia.

November having an extra Friday, resulting in an extra pay check.

Refurbished I-phones.

There is more that I'm thankful for, but in the end, I'm just thankful. I can't go so far as to say life is good, because there are still bumps in the road and kinks that need to be worked out. But life is happening and that alone is something to be thankful for.

Go Celtics.

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