That Turkey Video and a few things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

Turkeys have hopefully thawed (the length of time that it takes for a turkey to properly that came as a surprise to me on Monday afternoon), houses have been hastily cleaned and it’s just about time to sit down and relax before you realize you forgot to get any beer.

We’ll be taking a break from the rest of the holiday weekend, but until then we’ll leave you with some things that we’re thankful for this Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for?

Elections are (ALMOST) over

Even though there’s still the matter of a tied House race to resolve, as I’m writing this up while flipping between football and the parade I’m reminded just how thankful I am that our airwaves and roadways (for the most part) are no longer cluttered with Outside-funded attack ads and obnoxious billboards.

We can stop fretting about every twist and turn of the elections and settle into fretting about every twist and turn of a new administration.

The Freshman Class

When legislators gavel in this January, there’ll be 14 new faces across the House and Senate that’ll bring another big injection of new voices to the Legislature. In the Senate, there’ll be Sens. Elvi Gray-Jackson and Jesse Kiehl (as well as representatives-turned-senators Scott Kawasaki, Lora Reinbold and Chris Birch to add to the fun).

The House’s freshman class brings a little bit for everyone: There’s Anchorage veterans Laddie Shaw and Josh Revak, Eagle River (maybe moderates?) Nancy Dahlstrom and Kelly Merrick, Juneau women Sara Hannan and Andi Story, conservatives Sarah Vance and Ben Carpenter, Democratic yeoman Zack Fields and Grier Hopkins, Anchorage’s Sara Rasmussen and a final seat that’ll be decided by coin flip.

The easiest Christmas shopping

Finding the perfect gift for the Alaska political junkie can be a tough task—we all already have copies of “The Blood of Patriots: How I Took Down an Anti-Government Militia with Beer, Bounty Hunting and Badassery” (here’s the link, if for some reason you don’t)—but this year will be a breeze with prints of Alaska’s excellent election stickers (did you KNOW that Alaska has THE BEST stickers ever?).

Juneau artist Pat Race is selling prints of all eight stickers in 5”x7” prints with a limited quantity of 8”x10” prints also available (Full disclosure, even though Pat and I co-host a podcast, Hello Alaska!, together I had to buy my set of prints from him like everyone else).

The Turkey Video

Ah, former Gov. Sarah Palin.

It’ll never, ever get old. And while you’re recovering from the Thanksgiving hangover, check out the latest episode from The Alaska Landmine’s podcast where Jeff sits down with Scott Jensen, the man behind the camera of the classic video.

Happy Thanksgiving!