“Gobble, Gobble, Gobble….”

How many wonderful and beautiful songs have been composed over the years…so many categories from religious to popular, classical, folk …. famous composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Handel, Gershwin, …. wonderful movie composers like John Williams (Star Wars), Ennio Morricone (Mission), James Horner (Braveheart). Then there are composers known to only a few… perhaps a very small circle…maybe only within a family. 

You may not know that the Touhill family has composed a number of songs over the years; favorites such as  “We’re Off To Koinonia”,  “Just Because I’m A Genius”,  “One Tired Cowboy”. 

But at this time of the year, the song that quickly comes to mind is “Gobble, Gobble, Gobble”… a “Touhill Classic”. Hey, let’s try this catchy tune now. Ready ??? Okay, to the beat of boom,boom,boom…

“Gobble, gobble, gobble, plump turkeys are we, As sure as we’re livin, we’ll be on thanksgivin, So gobble, gobble, gobble, plump turkeys are we.”

Yes, it’s one of the great ones. Feel free to sing this song tomorrow as you’re carving your turkey. As I’m practicing the song now, I can almost smell the turkey….mmmmmmm, smell that turkey, smell the dressing with gravy, smell the delicious “angel biscuits’ with melting butter…. how about a bite of cranberries, a sip of wine….. wow.

Well, before we get carried away and race into the kitchen to gobble down anything we can find, “let’s kick it up a notch”. As much as we may enjoy the delicious Thanksgiving meal and family and friends around the table (however reduced because of Covid), we need to first “count our blessings”.

Let’s take a moment to thank God for our many blessings. I know it’s easy to focus on the things that aren’t going well …. things that we regret are happening in our world, our church, our country, our family,…. but there are so many blessings. 

Let me get the ball rolling…. I first want to thank the Lord Jesus for my relationship with him, the forgiveness of my sins, the promise of eternal life. I want to thank God for my wonderful wife Judy of over 51 years and our 10 beautiful children, their spouses, our almost 40 grandchildren, for our extended family, our life in the People of Hope community, for all the holy priests and religious we know, for our church, our nation and all who have given so much over these 244 years of our country’s existence (1776-2020), and so much more. 

So, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Let’s put a smile on our face and raise a toast to God for all of our many, many blessings.