The Christmas season is almost here but Thanksgiving is not that far in the past so perhaps it’s okay to begin considering our blessings.

We have lived in the freest country in the world our entire life thanks to our great-great-grandfather’s perilous ocean journey in 1827 and our great-grandfather’s four years of military service during the Civil War.

Family legend said he explained that he joined “to preserve the Union.”

Great-grandfather Robert F. Reid never owned a slave. Most other Union soldiers didn’t either. He joined the Union Army because he thought the Constitution made this the best place to live and raise a family. He and his wife, Henrietta Bradshaw Reid, raised nine children three sons and six daughters - all by their own effort (no government give-away programs). The idea of a government taking one person’s money to give to someone else probably would have seemed like theft to them.

Some feel the same way.

We recall hearing our father, John W. Reid, reminiscing about their family’s greatest Christmas treat being a fresh orange. Now there are oranges in grocery stores year around. The free enterprise system has created advantages that would have seemed like miracles to earlier generations.

We feel blessed that President Donald Trump held an increasingly leftist elite at bay for the last four years despite incessant attacks from left-wing fanatics whose main goal is to order other people around on top of making a lot of money.

President Trump prevented a left-wing takeover four years earlier when he won the presidential position despite pollsters’ predictions he would lose by a landslide margm.

During his four years in office he initiated policies that rebuilt an economy that was left in dire straits due to socialist endeavors by a preceding eight-year administration by a self-confessed “lefty,” abetted by a 47-year veteran of the Washington swamp crowd.

Today that abettor has been elected to the presidency of the U.S. thanks to a rigged election the leftists knew they had to cheat to win.

We are thankful that the nation still has a majority of Christians.

They understand what John Adams said:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Opponents of our system of government have sought to undermine it almost from its start. They have used unethical judges to enact legislation from the bench, removed Christianity from our schools and public life, and enacted programs designed to cause Americans to look to government as their god.

People in half of the states don’t buy that theory.

We’re thankful for those states and those people. They know what’s at stake and will do what’s necessary to prevent America from plunging into despotism.

Churches and “We the People” will continue to do what is necessary to maintain America as the “shining city on a hill” described by former President Ronald Reagan.

In his farewell address President Reagan remarked:

“I’ve been reflecting on what the past 8 years have meant and mean. And the image that comes to mind like a refrain is a nautical one-a small story about a big ship, and a refugee, and a sailor. It was back in the early 80’s, at the height of the boat people... As the refugees made their way through the choppy seas, one spied the sailor on deck, and stood up, and called out to him. He yelled, “Hello, American sailor. Hello, freedom man.”

Now it appears Joe Biden will sit in the Oval Office, at least temporarily (he has promised his friend, Barack, that he will resign if he has any policy disagreement with his far-left Vice-president Kamala Harris).

President Trump may have some cogent things to say before he steps out.

We are thankful he fought the Deep State tooth and nail for four years.

We are thankful for his encouragement that a moral America can extend into the future after this latest threat is defeated.

President Trump can cite many achievements as president.

Besides creating almost four million jobs before the COVID-19 forced shutdown of the economy, The Wall Street Journal’s Eric Morath and Jeffrey Sparshott reported: “Pay for the bottom 25 % of wage earners rose 4.5 % in November from a year earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Wages for the top 25 % of earners rose 2.9 % . Similarly, the Atlanta Fed found wages for low-skilled workers have accelerated since early 2018, and last month matched the pace of high-skill workers for the first time since 2010.” African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, women and youth unemployment were the lowest rates ever recorded.

Particularly important for this area he facilitated fracking, allowing the U.S. to become energy independent and improving the economy of those areas affected, and what may be his biggest achievement: he started no new never-ending wars.

That’s just a small sample, but obviously President Trump has a lot he could say.