Thanksgiving is always a bountiful and enjoyable holiday, but this year’s was extra special as our immediate Family convened at (older son) David and Julie’s house.
I am sitting in the waiting room of a local urgent care center…waiting to take a COVID rapid test.We have been invited to attend the bar-mitzvah of the grandson of close friends this weekend.
Stephen Sondheim died last week at the age of 91.  His incredible career spanned six decades. He shook up Broadway by breaking the mold of the ‘Happy Ending Musical”.  Sondheim was a believer that great art should explore characters and culture in a deeper way.  He was never satisfied with his work and always looked at each revival of his many shows as a chance to make the productions and the songs better.  I agree with his designation as an artistic genius!  
I am.   
If you could see my current Instagram feed, you would see a plethora of ads for podcasts. I started investigating podcasts a few weeks ago and now I’m inundated with ads.  
After Thanksgiving and Black Friday, it often signals the start of the holiday sounds on the radio; some years the tunes populate radio and various "elevator juke boxes" before Thanksgiving.  With Chanukah starting this eve it makes sense to release the updated Happy Holidays In Song today.
Getting ready for my family...In the image, my fire pit, smoker (with ducks), and turkey fryer. The fourth was in the fireplace inside the house. First time I had four fires cooking.    BTW, ended up smoking the two ducks this year. Tried something new! I used a simple dry rub before putting them on then basted them with maple syrup through the cook. YUM!  
One of my favorite “getting to know you” conversational tools is to ask a person to tell me their life story in 5 minutes or less and then listen intently for reusable nuggets.  An ancillary benefit is, if the person is worthy, he or she would then ask me to tell mine.