10 Things for Which to Be Thankful this Season

It’s that season again, fam. Pies, parades, family, and thankfulness. So whether you welcome or dread the question of what you’re thankful for, here’s a few answers to keep at the tip of your tongue.

1. Eyelashes
Useful for more than just flirting, eyelashes protect your eyes from debris. Moreover, they function like cat whiskers! They’re sensitive to touch and thus warn you of incoming dangers and automatically trigger a protective blink. Also, butterfly kisses are cute.

2. Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 – AKA tamper-evident packaging
It truly is a wonderful thing that you can buy food without being worried about death from contamination as a direct result of eating it. Be sure to check that expiration date.

3. Forks
They’ve been around since ancient times, but America didn’t adopt the lovely tool, perfect for cleanly eating all manner of things, until the end of the Revolutionary War. Side-note: you can also be thankful for the decline of the cadena, which was a box for your eating utensils that you were expected to arrive with. Now you get complimentary silverware almost everywhere!

4. Spiders
Anything with eight legs is a little terrifying, but spiders are incredibly useful. They fill an important ecological niche by killing smaller pest insects. Also, spider venom is actually a great alternative to harmful pesticides because they’re non-polluting and harmless to vertebrates.

5. Aglets
Those plastic or metal things at the end of shoelaces? Super amazing. They keep the lace from fraying and make it easier to thread the lace through the eyelets of the shoe. Tying your shoes and not dying from falling down 47 flights of stairs is possible because of aglets.

6. The alphabet
Thank goodness for 26 letters. Did you know that in Japan there are about 2000 characters one must be able to recognize on daily basis? Not to mention the fact that they have an additional two sets of 46 phonetic characters to learn.

7. The pinky finger
Promises, the shift key, fancy tea parties: all made possible by the smallest digit. Of course, we must also be thankful that the penalty of breaking a pinky swear is no longer cutting off said finger.

8. Miniature versions of candy
The perfect way to enjoy yummy deliciousness, without the vague guilty feeling in the back of your mind that says maybe you shouldn’t be stuffing your face with chocolate.

9. Carpet
Imagine a world without carpet: cold toes, the constant clicking of shoes, noisy echos, and a serious drop in coziness. No thank you.

10.  Napkins
You know that amazing Pixar short “Lava”? What about Harry Potter? Or “Shark Week”? All created because of conveniently placed scraps of scratchy paper designed to keep your face clean.

There you go! Ten possible answers to the inevitable question you’ll have to answer four dozen times this time of year. Always remember: the small things are worth thankfulness, too.