I don’t know if it happens at your place, but at the familial headquarters of our little clan where Papa resides in his beautiful late autumn of life, at some time in between the setting of the table and the saying of the graces there is a moment when everyone joins hands around the room and we each get to announce, in various shades of sarcasm, pride, religious zeal and weepy sentimentality, what it is we are most thankful for.

Despite my best attempts at maintaining an ironic distance from this sappy display of Americana de la Rockwell brought to life, it never fails to make my chest swell and my eyes water.

Because really, there is so much to be thankful for. These family rituals serve to remind us that we have people around us near and far to love, admire, bitch at and brawl with. For me, that includes the people who come here and read, speak their minds, argue and exposit. Thank you Hooligans, for keeping it interesting.