I’ve shouted “Thank you!” out the back door and put pie No. 2 in the oven. (Pie No. 1 happened last night.) Now is my moment for self-reflection. And on Thanksgiving day, that means remembering the many reasons I have to give thanks.

• I’m most thankful, as always, for the continued safety and health of those I love. This includes the grown son living half a continent away, where I can no longer keep an eye on him but can still worry. In an increasingly scary world, my Thanksgiving prayer from a year ago still holds true.

• It also includes the two dogs who are part of my family, including one diagnosed this year with chronic heart disease. That diagnosis accompanied a health crisis for her, but she’s responding well to medication and still quite capable of both frolic and fury. Her younger (12-year-old!) brother is graying but happy and healthy.

• I’m thankful that my mother’s and grandmothers’ recipes and kitchen tools keep them close to me during holidays, and that I’m able now to pass these recipes on to my son, my nieces and my nephews.

• I’m grateful to be among the privileged who have enough financial resources that I neither have to shop nor work on Thanksgiving, nor stand in line waiting for Black Friday deals.

• I’m thankful to be off work this week and for the resurgence in creativity this vacation has brought me. Here’s what I did yesterday in between cooking obligations and reading:

• I’m thankful for the many friends around me, who are my extended family and sustain me both at work and at home. I’m thankful to count my family members among my friends.
• Not least, I give thanks for art and literature, which sustain our souls, and for the Muse of Poetry, who descended on me not much more than a year ago. She helps center me and makes my life richer.

What would Thanksgiving be without pie? Here’s the first of three we’re bringing to Thanksgiving dinner this year. All credit for the dough sculpting goes to my talented husband (whose writings and some of whose cartoons can be found here).

I’m constantly surprised by people who are impressed by the fact that I make pie crust from scratch. It’s not hard. Honestly. Here’s how.