We're a couple of days into November. Before we know it, Christmas and the end of the year will be upon us. What are you most looking forward to this month? Some people say it's Thanksgiving. The most budget-minded among us await Black Friday with great anticipation. Still others are preparing giddily for colder weather. I'll be frank: While Thanksgiving is surely one of the things I am looking forward to the most, it doesn't sit in the top spot in my book. That distinction belongs to Election Day! I can hardly contain my excitement as I write this but, indeed, it all ends -- finally -- in three days. While there's no doubt we'll continue to see Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the news well after Tuesday -- no matter who becomes president -- it's a relief to know that one of the nastiest elections in American history is drawing to a close at last. I think most of us have grown very tired of the mudslinging and want a winner to be declared...

The Thanksgiving tradition stretches all the way back to the early days of the republic, when George Washington was at the helm of the fledgling nation. Following a resolution of Congress, President Washington proclaimed Thursday the 26th of November 1789 a day of “public thanksgiving and prayer” devoted to “the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.” Reflecting American religious practice, Presidents and Congresses regularly designated days of fasting and thanksgiving through the the mid-1800s. But the Thanksgiving holiday we celebrate every November was formally established by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and made into law by Congress in 1941, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was in office. I think everyone should be thankful for their blessings each day of the year, not just on the fourth Thursday of November. We often get so caught up in work and other responsibilities that we neglect to focus ...