TBT^18,446,744,073,709,551,616: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!

27 November 202519 November 2025 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving! I first wrote about the Thanksgiving miracle of surviving a terrible fall from a ladder way back in 2017. Now, the Thanksgiving miracle is Dr. Wife, and the fact that we’re together and enjoying a great honeymoon (presumably—I’m writing this before we leave, and while I’m positive it’s going to be awesome, I could be having too much fun and become physically addicted to the good times).

Thanksgiving is, of course, an ideal time to reflect on one’s many blessings. God Is Good, and Has Been Good to me this year. There have been plenty of trials and tribulations, but it’s been a year that’s forced me to submit to God and to stop trying to do things on my own.

I’m thankful for my wife and family, and I’m excited for the future. Pray that I can be a good, godly man for her.

With that, here is 28 November 2024’s “TBT^4,294,967,296: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“:

Memorable Monday^16: Thanksgiving Week!

24 November 202519 November 2025 The Portly Politico4 Comments

It’s hard to believe looking back at this post that Dr. Wife was Dr. Girlfriend around this time one year ago. It’s wild to contemplate how much can change in a year.

Dr. Wife and I have this conversation frequently, especially when enduring some trial or difficulty: it doesn’t last forever. Indeed, things can change very quickly. It’s also a reminder to enjoy the good moments—and with Dr. Wife, there are many of those!

We’re honeymooning, so I actually wrote this post while Dr. Wife was still Dr. Fiancée! I’m thrilled that she is not the former. I’m very thankful for her, my family, my friends, and God.

With that, here is 25 November 2024’s “Memorable Monday^4: Thanksgiving Week!“:

Lazy Sunday CCLXXXVIII: Thanksgiving Follies

1 December 202426 November 2024 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

It was a great Thanksgiving Break for yours portly, with lots of time with family, Dr. Girlfriend, and the dogs. I also released Leftovers III, my tenth musical release of the year.

As such, let’s take a look back at the good times:

“Memorable Monday^4: Thanksgiving Week!” (and “Memorable Monday^2: Thanksgiving Week!“; “Memorable Monday: Thanksgiving Week!“; and “Thanksgiving Week!“) – My annual celebration of getting an entire week off for Thanksgiving.
“TBT^4,294,967,296: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!” (and “TBT^65,536: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“; “TBT^256: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“; “TBT^16: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“; “TBT^4: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“; “TBT^2: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“; “#TBT: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“; and “It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“) – My annual counting of my many blessings, which just seem to grow each year.
“Leftovers III Out Today!” – My tenth album/EP of the year—woooooot!—is out now!

Back to work tomorrow.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

TBT^4,294,967,296: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!

28 November 202420 November 2024 The Portly Politico3 Comments

It’s Thanksgiving, which means yours portly is adding another layer of quasi-Talmudic commentary to his classic “It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle” post from 2017. My life is any many ways the same as it was a year ago, but some things have radically changed for the better.

My schedule at work is much more manageable. I’m no longer teaching nonstop most days, and my number of private lessons are down, which makes them much more manageable. Sure, I’d love the extra cash, and I am looking to increase the number of lessons I’m teaching each week, but I’m also appreciating the extra time.

I’ve released nine albums and/or EPs this year, with a tenth (hopefully!) coming out tomorrow, Leftovers III. It’s been pretty cool composing and releasing so much music this year.

Most significantly, I am dating a wonderful doctor. She is currently in her residency, so she is working very hard, but we see each other frequently. She and I connect at a fundamental level, and share the same core values: we’re devout Christians; we’re vehemently pro-life; we’re MAGA Republicans. It’s great. I’d sworn off “conservative” “Christian” women this summer, which just goes to show how much God Has a sense of Humor. I know it will sound like I am a love-besotted fool, but for many reasons, she and I both believe—and know—that our relationship is the work of the Holy Spirit. We did not arrive at the conclusion lightly.

So, yours portly is thankful for a great deal this Thanksgiving. I am excited to see what the future holds. Trump will be back in office soon, and it feels like we’re entering a golden age.

With that, here is 23 November 2023’s “TBT^65,536: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“:

Memorable Monday^4: Thanksgiving Week!

25 November 202423 November 2024 The Portly Politico5 Comments

Yours portly is enjoying one of the benefits of working in modern education: ludicrous amounts off time off from work. As such, here I am indulging in Thanksgiving Break, a time-honored tradition that now lasts an entire week.

Thanksgiving Week is an opportunity to catch up on all of the little errands of life. On Wednesday I’ll get an oil change, a haircut, and an eye exam. A properly lubricated car, a properly cut head of hair, and a properly examined set of peepers—what a day! My doctor is apparently out on a much-deserved sabbatical, so he and I won’t see each other until 2 January 2025—the even of my fortieth birthday!

I’m currently spending time with my personal physician, my sweet girlfriend. Doctor Girlfriend and I enjoyed an early Thanksgiving dinner last night, and the girls—Murphy and her pup—enjoyed cans of turkey-flavored dog slop.

I’ll leave Doctor Girlfriend’s house tomorrow morning, leaving chunky old Murph in her capable hands. My parents have a full house of people coming in for the big day, as well as two young kittens, so out of concern that Murphy might maul the kittens (she hates cats) and generally stink up the joint (she’s a smelly dog, what can I say?), Dr. G has graciously agreed to take in the succulent chunk until I can get back this weekend.

Thanksgiving Break is something of the calm before the storm of the end of the semester. When I get back on 2 December 2024, we’ll have two busy weeks: the school play is Friday, 6 December 2024, and my students’ big concert is during the school day on Friday, 13 December 2024 (what luck!). There’s also quite a bit of Town Council-related business to resolve before the end of the year, and I’m unclear what impact that will have my increasingly tight schedule.

But then all the busyness and pressure lifts for about three weeks. Exam week is easy-peasy for a grizzled pedagogical grognard like yours portly. Followed by two weeks of Christmas Break, and I’m barely working for the next month.

Of course, isn’t that the promise of America? I distinctly remembered friends’ parents who didn’t work the month of December. Granted, they worked for the Savannah River Site, the massive Cold War-era tritium processing facility, so they were essentially federal employees. Naturally, the feds believe it’s a basic human right to get five months paid vacation each year. They’re practically Germans!

But I digress. I’m thankful for what I do, and for time to spend with family and loved ones. Doctor Girlfriend has a real job, so she’ll be working on Thanksgiving Day (and Christmas!). For the rest of us societal freeloaders, let the relaxation begin!

With that, here is 21 November 2022’s “Memorable Monday^2: Thanksgiving Week!“:

SubscribeStar Saturday: Thanksgiving Break 2023

25 November 202325 November 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive. To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more. For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

It’s been an action-packed Thanksgiving Break for yours portly. I’ve been busy with family—the best kind of busy—while also trying to snatch some time for myself. The ankle is doing well, although I have to be careful not to overdo it.

My younger brother’s kids—my niece and nephews—absorbed a good bit of my time once they arrived at my parents’ house, and we had a lot of fun. We built a couple of LEGO sets together, and I also got all three of them messing around with my composing software. It’s so fun seeing them placing the notes and trying out different things. My niece—a very gifted pianist—insisted I transcribe the theme from the Harry Potter films into the software, which was a fun challenge (originally, she wanted me to do it around 9 PM Thanksgiving evening, which I flatly refused on grounds of mental and physical exhaustion).

All in all, it was a good chance to recharge my batteries before the craziness of the end of the school semester. Once I get back home tomorrow, it’s full steam ahead until Christmas.

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Lazy Sunday CLXXIII: Thanksgiving Week Posts

27 November 202217 November 2022 The Portly Politico4 Comments

Gobble, gobble, dear readers! Thanksgiving Week is coming to an end, but we can still look back at the food and fun of the expired week. Here’s one last, longing, wistful look back at the unlimited freedom of this glorious week:

“Thanksgiving Week!” – The original post celebrating this week, I wrote about the slow erosion of any real work getting done during the week, and wondered if we might see the day when schools would get an entire week off for Thanksgiving. That turned out to be a prophetic musing.
“Memorable Monday: Thanksgiving Week!” – 2020 still saw a two-day work “week,” but it’s also the first year I embraced the spirit of gluttonous laziness that I now associate with the week of Thanksgiving, a time of merriment and frivolity.
“Retro Tuesday: Thanksgiving Week!” – In 2021, it finally happened—the El Dorado of Thanksgiving Breaks was upon us, with an entire week off. As I had predicted, families were taking advantage of the week off to skip town even earlier, with some students leaving out Wednesday—a full eight days before Thanksgiving itself. Yikes! Give a week, take a mile—or two.
“Memorable Monday^2: Thanksgiving Week!” – Now in 2022, we’re all growing more accustomed to the novelty of a full week of Thanksgiving merriment. I didn’t notice nearly as many early truants this year, so maybe folks are tempering their expectations and realizing that one full week is plenty of time to get to wherever you need to be on Thanksgiving. I mean, with this much time, you can get to Australia and back!

Here’s hoping those food comas are wearing off and you’re ready to get back to the grind.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

TBT^256: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!

24 November 202210 November 2022 The Portly Politico2 Comments

I’m continuing the time-honored tradition of Thanksgivings past (2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017) with the annual reblogging of “It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!” I wrote the original post (on the old blog) back in 2017, just a few days after I fell from a ladder and broke my wrist. It was my lowest point in a number of ways, but I was grateful to be alive.

I’m thankful this year, too, although I am similarly in a bit a slump personally. No matter—I’ve got a good family, a good house, a good dog, and lots of private lessons to tide over my insatiable lust for frozen pizza and LEGO sets.

My pastor has been working painstakingly through Philippians for some time now, and has been hammering home the idea of finding joy amid our situations, no matter how difficult they might be. If the Apostle Paul could rejoice in a Roman prison, we can rejoice in the far less trying times of our daily lives.

Good stuff, even if it’s hard to live out. At least today I’ll get to eat some turkey.

With that, here is “TBT^16: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“:

Memorable Monday^2: Thanksgiving Week!

21 November 202217 November 2022 The Portly Politico4 Comments

Ah, yes—the glorious freedom of Thanksgiving Break. Those of us in the education biz are spoiled with constant holidays, workdays, days off, etc. Sure, I work twelve-hour days several times per week, and I can’t go to the bathroom whenever I want to (I’ve taught for hours with an urgent need for relief—you just get used to it) during the school day, but all this bogus time off makes up for it. I can hold in my urine for a few hours in exchange for a week of indolence.

Back in the old days, we just got Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. Ah, what benighted times! Around the time I was in high school—the early 2000s—school districts realized that everyone was taking off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to travel (not my family, but those bourgeois ones with—gasp!—family in other States), so they granted us Wednesday off.

Naturally, everyone then started taking off the Tuesday and even the Monday before Thanksgiving. Last year, my little private school relented, and ever since we’ve enjoyed the entire week off.

So, what is a portly pudge like myself to do? Go to the doctor and the dentist, of course! ‘Tis the season for getting in all of those annoying but necessary appointments. I also desperately need a haircut. Yours portly is looking more and more like Bigfoot every day.

But I digress. We’ll be back with Monday Morning Movie Reviews in December. There will be some original posts this week, but also quite a few reblogs—it is a week for rest, after all. But The Portly Politico will still be hitting your inboxes every morning ~6:30 AM EST (or whenever the WordPress Happiness Engineers decide to post them, as apparently a simple “schedule post” function is too difficult to implement flawlessly; posting at 6:45 AM is not 6:30 AM, WordPress!).

So, curl up with a good book, your favorite device, and some classic TPP leftovers—the best part of Thanksgiving!

With that, here is 23 November 2021’s “Memorable Monday: Thanksgiving Week!“:

Retro Tuesday: Thanksgiving Week!

23 November 202118 November 2021 The Portly Politico10 Comments

It’s Thanksgiving Week, which means I am really going to be phoning in some posts this week. I love writing, but even I need a break from the constant output that my insatiable readers demand.

In the original post from this thread, I spelled out my argument in favor of an entire week off for Thanksgiving, in exchange for some lesser holidays. With districts caving to reality and giving students the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off, families have just moved the start of their break back to Tuesday, with mass absenteeism the norm the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Indeed, many families take the entire week off.

Well, my school—and many public schools in my area—took my sage advice: we are off for the entire week. It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!

However, I also predicted that, with an entire week off, the siren song of leaving for an extended vacation even earlier would be hard to resist. I was right: last week, we had a few students leaving town as early as Wednesday—a full eight days before the bird faces the executioner. Whoa! The trend only intensified Thursday and Friday.

Of course, it strains credulity to argue for any more time off. At this point, I think it makes far more sense to increase Christmas Break than to lengthen Thanksgiving any further.

One downside to this newer, longer break: with losing some other days earlier in the semester, everyone is completely burned out. We teachers are not a hardy breed: we’ve grown soft with cushy vacations. In all seriousness, though, we get pretty worn down, as anyone would corralling and attempting to mold young minds all day.

Well, enough of that. Now I’m enjoying the sweet life.

With that, here is 23 November 2020’s “Memorable Monday: Thanksgiving Week!“:

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Tag: Thanksgiving Break