Five SMALL Thanksgivings

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Jungle Red to all of you! We hope you are all eating a bit too much, and that someone other than you gets to do the washing up!

But if you have a minute to celebrate with us, we have a Thanksgiving Challenge for you.

Once again, there are exclusions: We are all (we hope) thankful for our families and our friends, our pets, food on the table, our health, our homes, and BOOKS. So tell us FIVE other little things that make this day, or any other day, a little brighter.

I'll go first:

DEBS: 1) I'm thankful that my daughter convinced me to try Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. It sounded really weird, but it turned out to be delicious.

2)I just discovered that I like persimmons.  That proves that there are always interesting new things to look forward to.

3)And speaking of interesting new things, I came home from a week's writing retreat to find that my husband had grown a beard. This is the first time in the forty years I've known him that I've ever seen him with a beard. I think I like it.

4)I just have to get in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special.

With this week's frigid North Texas temps, I am more thankful than ever that we installed a gas jet in our fireplace when we had to rebuild the chimney a few years ago. No more Girl Scout fire-building skills needed.  Just put in some logs and turn on the gas.  Bliss.  Just add hot chocolate and a boo--opps, sorry. I almost threw in the B word.

Now, your turn, REDS. No cheating.

RHYS BOWEN:I have an awful lot to be thankful for this week with my whole family assembled around me as we celebrate a milestone birthday for my husband. But I'll try to come up with little things1. I'm thankful that I've never grown up, that I can still enjoy silly play and being a kid with my grandkids. I was told I was the only grandmother someone had ever seen chasing her granddaughters over the play structure and up the rock wall.2.I'm thankful I love to sing. When I'm with a choir singing great music I get chills
3.I'm thankful we import tea from England for our daily cuppe and that we still have that civilized four o'clock ritual.
4. I'm thankful for PBS. Otherwise the TV would never get turned on.
5. I'm thankful we have a Fresh and Easy store near us in Phoenix that stocks Crunchie bars. Absolutely my favorite candy.

HALLIE EPHRON: First off, I'm grateful to Debs that I don't have to come up with a seee-rious list of things I"m grateful for. I'm thankful for:
1.Hot smoked paprika, a spice which I only recently discovered and which I now use in my rub for chicken before roasting (or barbecuing). So delicious!
2. My immersion blender, which makes all kinds of wintery soups easy and no blender to clean up after.
3. My UGGS. I bought a pair 4 years ago and live in them through the winter. I cannot function if my feet are cold.
4. My daily newspaper. Hard copy. So grateful it's still being printed so I can have comics and the bridge column with my morning coffee.
5. And echoing Rhys on this, public television. Scott & Bailey. George Gently. Doc Martin. Downton. Antiques Roadshow. And so much more.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, little things. Let's see...

1. Wine. What can I say. My mom died a few years ago, and one of her legacies to me was part of her wine cellar. We have been having DELICIOUS wine, and we toast to her every time. (I'm embarrassed to put this first, but I did think of it first..)
2. Yeah, the things my mother left me. Including gorgeous scarves, which I wear all the time. You'd think it might make me sad, but it doesn't.
3. My iphone. I LOVE it. When I can't find it, I begin to freak out, which is scary. But it's a fabulous invention. And ON Demand TV. (This is the technology choice. So I can choose both things.)
4. Yes, Daily newspaper, at the breakfast table, with coffee. Starbucks Christmas blend! 
5.  Our ducks that come every spring. And our garden.

LUCY BURDETTE: Okay I'm thinking...
1. thankful for my morning walk with John and Tonka, which ends up with a cafe con leche at The Cuban Coffee Queen
2. thankful for the TV show Nashville on NBC. I'm crazy for this show--the music, the stars, the soap opera plot!
3. thankful for cheese, especially sharp cheddar--for toasted cheese

sandwiches, mac and cheese, and cheese on anything
4. Eyesight. What in the world would I do if I couldn't read??
5. fur and the animals who wear it. Nothing more soothing than ruffling the fur of one of my guys. While watching Nashville. and eating cheese (just kidding there:)

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: One of my favorite quotes is: Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.? ? A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

OK, now for five things:

1) I'm grateful that even though we live in the city, our windows face into the middle of a block, so we have a beautiful view of trees and can hear the birds sing.
2) I'm grateful for Frank's Hot Sauce, a Buffalo staple and what's used on real wings. I put it on almost everything. My husband jokes I'd put it on ice cream?
3) I'm thankful for our "nurse cat" Xander ? he's a bit of a grumpy old man-cat, but if anyone's sick or sad, he's right there, snuggling and purring.
4) I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but thankful for the new CW show, Reign. Even though it's historically inaccurate, it's jolly good fun ? and has distracted me through a lot of dark moments this fall.
5) Sick today and thankful to work from home, in my PJs, with tea and cats.

DEBS: Rhys, congrats to John!  Your celebration sounds fabulous.  And you are indeed the "games mistress" :-) If I ever want to organize a big bash, I'm calling you.

Susan, writing in PJs with tea and cats is always the best, but here's hoping you're feeling more festive on the day.

Hank, if I'd inherited anyone's wine, it would be first on my list!

Hallie, how does anyone live without an immersion blender?

And Lucy, I haven't seen Nashville. Nor Reign, Susan.  But I do have On-Demand TV...

What about you, readers?  What five SMALL things are you thankful for today?

(And we here at Jungle Red are very thankful for YOU, which is no small thing at all!)