…and all the other family members and friends who helped us get through a terribly difficult but ultimately life-enriching time. As I sit here dry-rubbing my bird (oy, that sounds odd) in anticipation of tomorrow's festivities, I can't help but reflect, for once, on the true, non-cynical aspect of the holiday. Yeah, times are tough for everyone—I may need work, money, a new car, etc.; we may be inundated with hospital bills; and the world may be going to hell in countless ways—but I have never in my life had a Thanksgiving in which I was so filled to the brim with gratitude. Thank you to everyone who touched our lives this year. I will never forget the generosity and kindness of others. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
aww daddy i love you too!
btw ehemm did i SAY you could use that photo
sorry i am still a teenager
I LOVE YOU
and i can't wait for the festivities tomorrow
Posted by: leah | November 25, 2009 at 03:00 PM
Same to you and your family, Danny! I am so happy that things are going well for your family. You definitely deserve it! Material things are nice to have, but there is nothing like having a healthy family. I am thankful that my husband survived his stroke. Therapy is helping, but he is officially unemployed as of this week, and it's going to be tough times, but we will make it. Enjoy your day!!
Posted by: Arlene (Silverman) Andresen | November 25, 2009 at 03:07 PM
Perfect, Danny! I just sat in traffic for way too long to pick-up Chinese, before a week of turkey this and that. I thought, why am I doing this? I am doing it for my kids. (And so I do not hear Turkey Again!?!) Yours kids are beautiful! Happy Holidays to you all!
Posted by: Julie Levin Freireich | November 25, 2009 at 03:46 PM
Happy Gratitude Day! Best wishes from Minnesota.
Posted by: Michele | November 25, 2009 at 03:52 PM
Much love to you, Kendall and Charlie! I wish I lived closer....I miss you guys. :-)
Posted by: Jane | November 25, 2009 at 04:15 PM
Wishing you and yours a VERY Happy Thanksgiving, Danny!
Posted by: Annika | November 25, 2009 at 04:38 PM
I am grateful to know you and to acknowledge that we are Hollywood Park family! Much Love, Susie
Posted by: susie specter | November 25, 2009 at 04:53 PM
Absolutely lovely. Have a great holiday!
xx
Posted by: Sarah | November 25, 2009 at 05:06 PM
I am so happy for you!
Posted by: maggie may | November 25, 2009 at 06:21 PM
Have a great holiday with your family, start new traditions, love each other and eat great food!
Posted by: Mim Michelove | November 25, 2009 at 06:49 PM
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Posted by: Elise | November 25, 2009 at 06:52 PM
Someone earlier said it perfectly: "Your posts always remind me how thankful I am for my own family, now matter how precarious it feels to love them so much, and for that I am thankful." Yup. Happy Thanksgiving!!
Posted by: K Wild | November 25, 2009 at 07:32 PM
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. I just looked up the word "Inspiration" in Webster's and there was a pic of you all!
Posted by: Les Neudorf | November 25, 2009 at 09:19 PM
Dear Danny,
What beautiful pictures !
Thanks for sharing your life with all of us, through your always interesting and entertaining (and sometimes heart wrenching) blog.
A very happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
-Gordon
Posted by: Gordon | November 25, 2009 at 10:40 PM
As usual you have captured it brillantly! Have a great day with the family. I am blessed to have gotten to know you all through this forum. Happy Thanksgiving and many blessings for the future!
Posted by: Pam G | November 26, 2009 at 04:45 AM
The middle photo of the beautiful young woman with milk skin and red hair--in my WASP dreams, I look just like her. I am that bland looking sort of Scotts-Irish stock. My skin is white, but my hair, without my hairdresser, would be almost the worst shade of brown/black.
Never be sorry you are still a teenager, young woman. It is terribly difficult to be one now-a-days. But you will be older soon enough.
Best wishes and Happy Thanksgiving. We aren't having traditional turkey--I have been up all night making lasagna. Taking Calvin Trillin's suggestion and eating something different.
Posted by: jaye | November 26, 2009 at 05:56 AM
I'm thankful that your growing Charlie Boy still fits into that green sweater!! You have a lovely family and lots to be thankful for! Have a marvelous family celebration, Danny!
Posted by: Ellen Bloom | November 26, 2009 at 08:39 AM
I've only checked in occasionally, as Annie Gottlieb links, partly as self-preservation, so pardon if I'm off a tic. That NICU experience is real and lasting. To get entwined in anyone's NICU saga almost feels like reliving it myself. One benefit of a NICU baby...they are well regimented and usually fast eaters and you have an extended babyhood.
God's blessings to your whole family and that fighter, Charlie. I hope all goes well for you all. 'Normal' takes on a whole new look after surviving the NICU.
Posted by: Ruth Anne | November 27, 2009 at 07:27 AM
Oy - you brought tears to my eyes, once again.
Posted by: Shari | November 27, 2009 at 09:16 AM
How many ways can I say, the boy is sooooo adorable.
Posted by: liza | November 27, 2009 at 09:46 AM
Aw Charlie is looking so sweet and bonny! Sending a virtual lil pinch across the ocean to those beautiful cheeks (and as a fellow NICU survivor those hands are obviously anti bacterially gel-ed to the max!)
What a gorgeous family you have. Happy holidays xo
Posted by: Catherine W | November 27, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Danny~
Lo-He-Ha today~ yesterday~ and always to you, Kendall, Leah, Charlie and all your extended family on your blog~
sandy
Posted by: sandy | November 27, 2009 at 09:59 PM
Best wishes to your family. One of the things I'm thankful for is your blog. It is a wonderful reminder to give thanks... Not in a "there but for the grace of God" sort of way, but in a reminder of all the good people in the world, of the choices everyday your family has made to keep going with gratitude. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend. Hell, have a wonderful rest of your lives!
Posted by: Mary Shannon Baim | November 28, 2009 at 07:49 AM
Wonderful to see that everything is as it should be. Normal. Content. Good. Best wishes for your first family Thanksgiving for four.
Posted by: suzanne | November 28, 2009 at 08:49 PM
Happy Thanksgiving For The Whole Year
By D.K.Milgrim-Heath
Happy Thanksgiving for every full year-
God protected your Charlie so that's clear.
Very much home now your son is with you-
That's daddy,mommy plus big sister Leah too.
Once I was a preemie 1pd.11OZ. 56 years ago-
God's worked miracles also with me-
He did that with your darling Charlie.
So all of you can now fully rejoice-
Praise God thankfully with your voice!
Posted by: D.K.Milgrim-Heath | December 06, 2009 at 07:17 PM
Wonderful photos! Your family is simply beautiful. Kendall's glasses are very, very cool. If I were a modeling agent [and darnit, I"m not...], I'd sign Leah in seconds. Seconds.
Posted by: Chris | December 19, 2009 at 08:21 AM