It's been a while since I posted my last Editor's Notebook, ceding the column to Long Valley Patch reporter Gerard Longo's recollection of his time as a West Morris football player. Great job, Gerard!

Anyhow, it wasn't too hard to come up with this column's focus. We celebrated Thanksgiving this week, which is my personal favorite holiday. But too often we take holidays at face value, and never truly delve into what their meanings are.

I won't use this venue to preach about how or why we should celebrate our holidays for their meanings, rather than their meals or gift exchanges, because I'm the first to be guilty of this.

Thanksgiving, a holiday whose symbols include food and football, should be a time to reflect and–that's right–give thanks for all we have.

Instead, I usually start counting down to the holiday a week in advance, growing excited about time off from work and the opportunity to be justifiably lazy and gorge myself with whatever food is in front of me.

But I've also realized I'm incredibly blessed. I have a roof over my head, food on the table, family to be surrounded by. This is what Thanksgiving is about. This is what being thankful is–having a reason to reflect on our good fortunes. We live in an amazing community and have a lot to be thankful for just by living in Long Valley.

I have family members who've volunteered time in post-Katrina New Orleans, weeklong missions trips to Guatemala and plenty of other situations where help has been given to those less fortunate. Hearing the stories and seeing the photos makes me realize how truly grateful I should be for what I have.

History shows that the original Thanksgiving, while sometimes disputed, was the coming together of pilgrims and Indians to celebrate the harvest and give thanks to God for all they had.

I truly believe there is something for us to be thankful for each and every day. Just waking up, getting out of bed and being able to go forward is reason enough to stop and enjoy what life has offered us.

This Thanksgiving I gave thanks for my family, the health we have, the ability to sit and spend time with each other and feast on enough food to feed an army. I reflected on the opportunity to work with Patch and how we're serving this awesome community–and how faithfully it's been serving us.

I hope you enjoyed your holiday. And I hope you try your hardest to remember what the holiday season is really about.

Let's not take each day at face value, and instead value each day.