Thanksgiving.

Nana Blythe came early. Under her brown knitted cap lay her white tresses which curled like dozens of miniature spiral staircases. Her face was flushed pink from the frigid wind that was making it's seasonal visit. In her right hand she held a small wooden box painted sky blue with two dainty hinges on one side of the lid, and a small latch on the other. There was no lock and no key.

Johnny Blythe, all 80 lbs of him, stepped quickly down the staircase to the front door where his father was taking Nana's coat to hang on the coat rack. He had just woken from a good night's sleep where he had the most incredible dream that he was racing on a professional racing track on his dark mare. It was the most vivid dream he thought he had ever had. He could see the crowd in the stands, the cloud speckled sky, and the horses with which his mare was competing. The other jocks looked just like him, but Johnny was determined to win first place just the same. Just before crossing the finish line, Johnny woke to the sound of the front door's bell.

When Nana saw Johnny, her smile magnified and her wrinkled face transformed to pure sunshine. There was her little Johnny with chestnut brown hair, light brown eyes, and still in his locomotive pajamas. She opened her arms and bent over just enough to catch him with her hug. She heard him exclaim, "Nana!!" The joy in his voice made her forget about all of her physical ailments, financial struggles, and general frustrations. She melted into his love and he her's. Johnny released his Nana with an overwhelming curiosity about the little blue box she was carrying.

Father took Nana's coat to the coatrack and returned to see Nana opening her little blue box. He understood what the box was for already. He, too, had received a little blue box from his Grandmother as a small boy. As he stood back and watched, he saw Johnny peer into the box. Father knew that it was empty and watched with amusement as he saw Johnny's puzzled face.

"There's nothing here", he heard Johnny say.
"That's because you haven't put anything in it", father replied. Nana smiled her knowing smile and proceeded to explain the purpose of the box.

"Johnny", she began. "This is the 'Thanksgiving box'. I'm giving it to you on Thanksgiving day, but that doesn't mean that you only use it at Thanksgiving. Whenever you have a problem that you can't solve on your own and you begin to feel sad about it, you can write down something that you are thankful for and place it in this box. That way, when you feel like everything is wrong, you can open your thanksgiving box and see all the things that are right."

Father smiled as Johnny took the box from Nana. He could tell that Johnny was taking that very moment to find something to be thankful about just so he could use his new blue box.