If your life is anything like mine right now, you're probably putting a lot of thought at the moment into how to plan a small, socially distant Thanksgiving.

It's weird, right? Thanksgiving has always been an occasion for big gatherings of family and friends. It doesn't even feel like an "isolated Thanksgiving" is a thing that's theoretically possible - it's a contradiction in terms, like a "vegan cheeseburger" or an "a capella guitar solo." And yet, thanks to 2020, here we are. On Thursday, I'll be making a Thanksgiving dinner for two. The smallest turkey I could find was just over 9 pounds, so we're going to have a ton of leftovers.

It's a pretty sad state of affairs - but I've been reminding myself that despite everything, I still have a lot to be thankful for. This year has been difficult, of course, but I feel relatively lucky that I still have my health, my employment, a loving spouse, and a good home. I'm trying not to let 2020 demoralize me so much that I lose sight of these blessings. Especially this time of year, it's important to acknowledge them and be grateful for them.

I see the Scrabble world much the same way.

It's been a rocky year for Scrabble. Tournaments all over North America and around the world have been cancelled. The community has been rattled by a series of off-the-board controversies. We're all sitting at home isolating, unsure when we'll be able to see each other at tournaments again. It's not great.

Despite all that, we're blessed as a community in a lot of ways.

I figured this week, with the holiday and all, would be a good time to take a step back and consider all the things we Scrabblers have to be thankful for. I'll offer up a few:

• I'm thankful for great friends. Oddly enough, spending all this time quarantining at home has brought me closer to a lot of people in this community, not farther away. I can't tell you how many group video chats and virtual board game nights I've enjoyed over the last eight months or so. I'm grateful there are so many awesome Scrabblers out there to bond with remotely. I'm not sure I could survive 2020 without you guys.

• I'm thankful for online Scrabble. Even if we can't meet up over the board, there are still plenty of ways to play the game we all know and love. Being able to play on ISC (warts and all!) has been a blessing this year; now, with Woogles arriving on the scene, playing online is even more exciting. I'm glad we can still duke it out with each other over the tiles, electronic as they may be.

• I'm thankful for virtual tournaments. It's been a joy running a handful of them this year, from our one-day CURE events to the weeks-long Virtual World Cup over the summer. I've also enjoyed playing in a few events myself, including Ben Schoenbrun's Double Double, and spectating a bunch more, like the MGI event and the Wisconsin Dells tourney last week.

• I'm thankful for Scrabble streaming. Live tournaments may be dead for now, but we have live broadcasts! The blossoming Scrabbler presence on Twitch is a really exciting development, and it's one I hope continues even after the pandemic is over. We're taking big steps as a community to move Scrabble into the 21st century.

• I'm thankful that the CoCo is starting to take shape. We've had a really productive year building out our organization - we elected seven members to our board of directors, and we're doing a lot of important work behind the scenes on our tournament team and our legal team. It's all coming together!

• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I'm thankful that people's enthusiasm for the game of Scrabble is still alive and well. Our community has been shaken up quite a bit this year, but our love of the game will live on, no matter what. Sooner or later, we'll be back, and we'll be better than ever.

When I sit down for Thanksgiving dinner this year, that's what will be on my mind. But that's just my personal list! I'm sure you have plenty of thoughts of your own - what are you thankful for? Feel free to share.

(Also, if you've got any tips on what to do with 8 pounds of leftover turkey, I'd love to hear those too.)