Tuesday following our noon time press run, our staff took abreak for a few minutes to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast – dinner onthe grounds style, where everyone brings a specialty item fromhome.

It has become somewhat of a Thanksgiving tradition at our officeto break the pressure of producing a daily newspaper during thebusy holiday season. Wonderful dishes and delightful deserts areserved and everyone gets a few minutes of relaxation before thenext deadline looms.

Like everyone else in our community and this nation, the staffof The DAILY LEADER has been touched by the economic crisis hittingour country. No one is immune from the concerns, worries and thefrustrations. We can see it on the faces of our staff and we havedone a poor job of hiding it on our own face from them.

Before sharing our meal, we reflected on the tough times aroundus and discussed the current economic situation in the community.We talked about how fortunate we were when compared to others andother parts of the country. We discussed that first Thanksgiving in1621 and the uncertainty those early settlers felt in the earlydays of our nation’s history.

Across this community Thursday, many families will sit down withloved ones and fiends to reflect on their Thanksgiving blessings.Even in these uncertain times food will likely be plentiful, but inthe back of many minds will be the uncertain future of our economictimes.

Elsewhere, in Iraq and Afghanistan and other parts of the world,members of our armed forces also will have taken time out fromtheir responsibilities to give thanks for their own blessings in adangerous world they have chosen to help protect.

These times are uncertain – nothing like most of us havewitnessed before.

Tuesday as we prepared for our office feast, a certain sparkcould be seen in everyone’s eyes and a calm peaceful look appearedon their faces – a group thankful for the blessing the Lord hasgiven us, but prepared to give it their all to help build a betterfuture.