Nov 21, 2012 3 min read

Dear readers: Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.We hope you are fortunate enough to be spending the holiday with family and friends. We also hope you remembered those who are alone today and would love to be part of your family on this occasion. If it’s too late to include them this year, please make a note on your calendar to invite them next year.

Our special thanks to those readers who are spending the day volunteering at shelters and soup kitchens. Bless you for your kind hearts and generosity of spirit.

Q. A few times in the past, you have printed a Thanksgiving Prayer. The first time I saw it, I cut it out of the paper and read it at our Thanksgiving table. It perfectly expressed what I wanted to say.

Unfortunately, I misplaced the poem last year. With all of the chaos after the big meal, I think it was accidentally thrown out. Would you please print it again? This time I will be sure to put it in a very special place so I can have it to read every year. – Grateful in Arizona

A. With pleasure. Here it is:

Thanksgiving Prayer

We come to this table today, O Lord, humble and thankful and glad.

We thank Thee first for the great miracle of life, for the exaltation of being human, for the capacity to love.

We thank Thee for joys both great and simple –

For wonder, dreams and hope;

For the newness of each day;

For laughter and song and a merry heart;

For compassion waiting within to be kindled;

For the forbearance of friends and the smile of a stranger;

For the arching of the earth and trees and heavens and the fruit of all three;

For the wisdom of the old;

For the courage of the young;

For the promise of the child;

For the strength that comes when needed;

For this family united here today.

Of those to whom much is given, much is required. May we and our children remember this. Amen.

Dear readers: Here’s one more poem, on the lighthearted side, sent in by a longtime reader. We hope you enjoy it:

Twas the Night

of Thanksgiving

Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn’t sleep.

I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.

The leftovers beckoned – the dark meat and white,

but I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation, the thought of a snack became infatuation.

So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door

and gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,

pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,

till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky

with a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.

But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees…

Happy Eating to all! Pass the cranberries, please!

Annie’s snippet for Thanksgiving (credit Dick Gregory): “One of the things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy is doing things for other people.”

Email questions to anniesmailboxcomcast.net, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.