It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy. We think of it as a mini-magazine in your inbox.

GRATITUDE
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews
Correspondent
 
The Japanese maple outside our house is now cherry red, fiery in the sunlight and the last of the trees with colorful leaves here in our part of Virginia.  
 
I am grateful for it. 
 
Dear readers, we’ve been through another dramatic year. And as you well know, we should expect 2025 to be another jet-propelled engine of news. 
 
We’d like to take this moment to go the other direction. Sit down. Be cozy. And list out, with you, some simple things that bring us contentment. It’s a bit cliche, but we won’t let that stop us from giving thanks this important Thanksgiving.
 
Our grateful list:

• Our health and family
• The fact that we can take photos with phones
• A good podcast (or two)
• Pie (and Pi)
• “The Great British Bake Off,” including Noel Fielding’s cheeky outfits, which we would love to see liven up Capitol Hill.
• A hot cup of tea or coffee. (Lots of either.)
• Rocky! (Lisa’s cat, even when he’s demanding.)

• The Congressional Research Service. (Let us especially praise its underappreciated appropriations tracker.)
• And not forgetting you, the hard-working folks at the Congressional Budget Office. (Among other things, for trying to make the complex seem simple. Look at this great summary table here.)
• The many places where we have learned. 
• Our fellow journalists.
• Especially those making local journalism. 
• And most sincerely, you. Now, when it is hard to know who is digesting what news and where, it truly bolsters us to have you as our readers. No one is more thoughtful and we are grateful for this online community we are building.