Why should we celebrate Thanksgiving when things don’t seem to be going our way? Just look at the cost of Thanksgiving dinner alone: that’s gone way up over last year because of everything that’s been going wrong ever since the pandemic struck two years ago.

Shipping costs have increased, fuel expenses have risen, feed and fertilizer prices have soared and the cost of labor, when workers can be found at all, has gone up as well. The result, according to the Farm Bureau Federation: a meal ticket of $64.05 this year over an average of $53.31 last year for a classic Thanksgiving dinner for 10. That’s a 20 percent increase.

Why in the world would we take a moment out of our day to praise inflation, not to mention the many other upsetting circumstances that have been plaguing us for some time now: the ever-present political nastiness, extreme weather, more virus warnings, and terrible events in other parts of the world that don’t seem quite as far away as they used to be.

Why? Because celebrating Thanksgiving is about appreciating the things we have rather than the things we want, a good portion of which are not as important as the gifts we tend to overlook.

For at least one day of the year, we need to stop concentrating on the highlight reels of the past year and acknowledge our everyday blessings, whether they might be good friends who pick us up when we’re down, supportive family members who help us when we need it, or even pets that adore us even on our orneriest days.

These are things that count, just as we should be thankful that we live where we do, somewhat tucked away in an area that others aspire to visit and live.

The flowers will come up in the spring, the ocean will continue to meet the beach, and life will go on. We should be thankful we’re allowed to be part of that and raise a toast to all the unappreciated things that, if we think about it, we’ll rediscover.