Unsolicited, unwanted or unforwarded Christmas cards and gift catalogs keep coming to my temporary abode in the president’s house at Minnesota’s St. Olaf College. I paged through some of them the other day and found that the almost universal greeting now has nothing to say about Christmas. Just “Happy Holidays!”
I love Thanksgiving. It’s the one holiday the retail economy has not been able to capture. There is something authentic about a holiday that doesn’t require us to buy anything, but just invites us to gather our loved ones around a dinner table and be grateful. I am thankful for the annual opportunity to take stock and give expression to my gratitude. One of the things for which I am most grateful is this journal, for the team that creates it throughout the year, and for their commitment to making it a lively, faithful, provocative, stimulating magazine.