I’ve taken a little break from the blogging world – due in part to a lengthy (and much needed) Thanksgiving break with family , and also due to the fact that the ladies at our house have both been feeling a little poopy lately and Daddy’s been pulling extra duty taking care of them. Needless to say, blogging hasn’t been the highest of priorities. I did spend some time reflecting on my blessings over the break, so what you’re getting is my much-belated Things-I’m-Thankful-For post, with a few random thoughts tacked on at the end.
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We had a great Thanksgiving, full of turkey, football and, most importantly, family. I realized this weekend how much I enjoy spending time with my family. My sister and our families went to see the Johnny Cash flick Walk the Line, which you know I have been dying to see. (Loved it, by the way.) It was special to go catch this movie “in memory of” our Dad, who was a Cash aficionado. I’m thankful for my sister and for all she’s meant to me over the years.

I’m also thankful for my in-laws; it’s a blessing for me to see how my relationship with them has evolved over time. 10 years ago, when I first started coming around as a gangly 18 year old courting their daughter, they welcomed me with more respect than I deserved. One marriage and two grandchildren later, I’m proud of the adult relationship I share with them. I love them for loving me.

I’m thankful for music. There’s nothing that puts a bigger smile on my son’s face than the sound of music: ANY MUSIC! (I think he’s loving Daddy’s XM Radio as much as I am! Channel 23 – All Christmas, all the time!) Here’s a shot of Jr. getting an early start at the piano. A prodigy, perchance?

The little lady and I also had the bright idea of taking the kids to Opryland Hotel to try and take a Christmas card pic. That’s a good idea. The bad idea was deciding to eat dinner first, thus pushing back our arrival time at Opryland to 8:00, which is dangerously close to bed time. We finally got BOTH babies to look at the camera at the SAME time, but the pic was a bit blurry. Sigh…

All in all, a great Thanksgiving break. Hope yours was as good as ours was.
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My friend Scott has written a thought-provoking little post on his site Free Thoughts entitled Israel & America. If you enjoy political discussion, you should check it out and weigh in on the comments page.
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BCS Haters Unite! If you’re anti-BCS, pro-playoff, then you have to be pulling for the upsets in this weekends big games. With only two at-large bids available after the conference champs are crowned, we’d have a pretty interesting scenario on our hands if USC and Texas both lost. If UCLA knocks off the men of Troy, they’d be the Pac-10 champs and garner an automatic bid to a BCS bowl; same holds true if Colorado were to defeat Texas for the Big 12 title. That would mean the BCS would only be able to choose two teams from the following: USC, Texas, Notre Dame, Oregon, Ohio State & Auburn. You know the powers that be would have to choose the cash cow that is the Irish. That leaves one pick for someone, probably USC. Can you imagine the uproar out of Texas if the Longhorns are left out of a BSC bowl after the season they’ve turned in? I know it’s a longshot, but it’d take some kind of apocalyptic scenario like this to bring about what we all know is a necessary inevitability: a college football playoff championship.