As many of you will be in the throes of eating, or digesting, your Thanksgiving rations next Thursday I thought it prudent to send along my holiday thoughts this week.

And while my sincere wish for your Thanksgiving is that it be filled with nothing but sweetness and light, on the off chance you find yourself gritting your teeth while watching your nearest and dearest micromanage in the kitchen, eat the bulk of the hors d’oeuvres, and vanish when it’s time to clean up, I offer you the following quote from Jean Antoine Petit-Senn:

It requires less character to discover the faults of others, than to tolerate them.

Sometimes inspiration is not easy….

Because I don’t know about you, (and here I send all my dearest love out to my siblings, pictured above…#pagingDrFreud) but from time to time “family holiday” lands the same way “family vacation” does:

As the ultimate oxymoron.

“But they’re such characters!” I hear if (when) I grumble.

Yep. That’s one description.

That said, it is the description I am going to be clutching on this coming holiday as opportunities arise for me to build character.

Because I know when it’s all over, I will be thankful for the characters that surrounded me.

I’m sure you will be thankful for yours, too.

(On the off chance you find yourself having a lot of character-building opportunities, however, take a look at, “Build in a Recombobulation Area”)