www.roanoke.com

Working up to gratitude

John Long
Long, director of the Salem Museum and a history teacher at Roanoke College, is a Roanoke Times columnist.

Happy Thanksgiving! If you're like me, you're reading the paper today a little more leisurely than normal. You've got the day off, you've got family to go visit, or they're staying with you. You just finished the Big Meal or it's in the oven and the smells are taunting your growling tummy. It's a great day all around. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays -- not quite on par with Christmas, but still a pretty magical day. A multi-day marathon, actually -- days of catching up with relatives and eating too much. My family today, my wife's tomorrow, the church family last Sunday, days of leftovers after it's all over. To me, it's never too much (except in the calorie count).
Read more.

Make good memories today

Maggie Stevens
Stevens is retired from Kroger and is a grandmother living in Roanoke.

I love all the winter holidays, but I think my memory of one particular Thanksgiving is the one I hold closest to my heart. Our families were alive and well then and always came from Winston-Salem, N.C., for the day and, of course, for turkey dinner and all the trimmings, especially oyster dressing.
Read more.

The nation needs such giants

Jan VanHorn
VanHorn lives in Roanoke.

My 100-pound mother, by usual standards, was no one special. Her pedigree was unimpressive, but she managed to live with such dignity and good sense that she left an indelible imprint for generations. During the election cycle of 2008, I thought about her now uncommon common sense -- and the different election process we could have had if people had listened to her. The nation would have been better, cleaner and, like her, had true dignity when all was said and done. Pedigree would have weighed less than morality. Truth would have outweighed guided perceptions.
Read more.

Read Thursday's letters here.