Okay, so Thanksgiving was three days ago. Does that mean we should no longer be paying attention to those things for which we are thankful? I think not.

I don’t believe in appreciating our luck only one day a year. I don’t believe in being romantic only on February 14. Do we only honor veterans on November 11? Think Abe Lincoln was a good president only on the third Monday in February? Get drunk and throw up only on December 31?

Of course not.

So, please indulge me as I catalog those things (at least, some of them) for which I am especially thankful at this stage in my life:

* I’m thankful for a new publisher. Not that I’m not grateful to the old one, but it’s nice that now, I’ve been working with the lovely people at Berkley Prime Crime for a series that starts next year.

* I’m thankful that I’ve finally come up with a title for the second (!) book in the new series. As of today, it’s called IT HAPPENED ONE KNIFE. Unless that changes.

* I’m glad that pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training in only 11 weeks. It’s not much, but we baseball fans have to hang onto something.

* I’m thankful that there is Amazon.com, since I have managed to do almost all my holiday shopping without having to go to–horrors!–a mall. (Remember, before you get annoyed, that we Semitic types have 10 days fewer before we have to bestow gifts upon everyone we’ve ever met.)

* I’m thankful to the Edy’s company, for making slow-churned light ice cream that tastes as good as the original kind. Who knew it was the speed of the churn that made the difference?

* Not to repeat myself, but I’m thankful for all the kind people who have blurbed my previous books, the people who reviewed them, the people who recommended them to friends. I hope to be even more thankful next year at this time.

* I’m thankful to everyone who has taken time to contact me about the books and say nice things. The few who said not-so-nice things? Maybe not as thankful, but I’m glad you read them, anyway.

* I’m thankful I got to see parts of Italy this year. Next year: well, we can afford Hoboken, at this point.

* Thanks to all mystery fans, all people who like to read, to librarians, booksellers, reviewers, fans (especially fans!), convention attendees, signing attendees and people who email.

* If you meet enough mystery authors, you get to be thankful for the friends you make along the way, and I am. I’d mention names, but then I’d inadvertently leave someone out, and feel terrible. So assume you know who you are. Thanks. Many of you have shown me the ropes (although what ropes can do to help a novelist is beyond me), others have commiserated when there was something to commiserate, and still others have bought drinks at conventions. None of these things is small, by any measure.

* I’d mention my wife and family, but then I’d lose my reputation as a curmudgeon, and I’ve worked so hard on it.

* I’m thankful that I finally finished listening to the audiobook of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Benjamin Franklin. I mean, 21 DISCS??? The guy was dead for a disc and a half!

* I’m thankful there are (in life or in legacy): James Taylor, Susan Werner, the Beatles (gotta hear that new mish-mash of their songs!), the Marx Brothers, Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock, grilled cheese sandwiches (although I could have lived without the cholesterol), Mel Brooks, Jim Croce, Irwin Shaw, William Goldman, Larry Gelbart, Linda Ellerbee, french fries (see comment re: cholesterol), Preston Sturges, S.J. Perelman, Joe Adamson, Indiana Jones, Abraham Lincoln, Jon Stewart, Robin Williams, Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Madeline Kahn, Gilda Radner, A.J. Croce, Jean Shepherd, and the New York Yankees.

I believe other people are thankful for other things:

For example, I think Mel Gibson is thankful for Michael Richards . Finally, someone’s taken the heat off.

I think Britney Spears is thankful for her pre-nup. Yeah, I really think Britney is thankful for that pre-nup. After all, she’s 25 years old, and been married, what, three times?

I think Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are thankful for the decorum and discretion of the press who followed them to Rome for their wedding. I think the press is thankful that Tom gets married every few years, so they can have a reason to go to Rome. You can’t get fresh gnocchi like that anywhere else.

I believe Justin Morneau is thankful that people outside the New York metropolitan area hate Derek Jeter so much. Only baseball fans are going to get that one.

It’s my belief that NBC is thankful it took a shot on a TV show about people who get superpowers just out of nowhere, and that Aaron Sorkin is pleased that it would be a huge embarrassment to cancel a really interesting show just because it’s hard to sum up in half a sentence.

I’m guessing Janet Evanovich is grateful that numbers are infinite. She can keep going forever.

Sue Grafton, on the other hand, is probably thankful there are only 26 letters in the alphabet.

Just as a note: This is my last post on Murderati. But I will be posting on a new blog, called Hey, There’s a Dead Guy in the Living Room (no, really), very early next year, and I hope my former blogmates here will be so kind as to provide a link when the Dead Guy is up and running. I’ve had a great time here, am thankful (you should pardon the expression) for the opportunity, and for all the people who have commented and mentioned the blog to me. Thanks for taking time out of your Sunday to take a look. Hope we meet up again very, very soon.