Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It has special memories for our family, it is an opportunity to combine food and football, and especially it provides a few days to focus on being thankful. Because of this, my family and I have a yearly tradition of creating a turkey hand drawing.

Why do I share this with our APM family? Mainly two reasons.

First, our hands remind us of our APM core value of health and safety – all go home 100%. Each year in APM the hands are the most body part injured; this year 1/3 of our injuries are to the hands and fingers. So the Turkey Hand is a good reminder of how valuable a tool our hands are and how we should protect them. You can find a lot of hand safety info on our APM One Stop Shop > Hand Safety Campaign.

Second, we have so much for which to be thankful. Expressing our thanks has many proven benefits to our health, our resilience, and our relationships. So the activity provides a simple, fun way to cultivate gratitude.

This year I asked the kids to pick a color, a finger, and something to be thankful for. Somehow alliteration joined the party – we all chose words that start with H.

• Pinky finger – Maddie chose to be thankful for our Head: the ability to think and learn. Our voracious reader went back upstairs to read a book.

• Ring finger – I always devote this to Missy, and am thankful for our Heart: the ability to love. Missy spent the day preparing for our Thanksgiving trip, her expression of love through serving our family.

• Middle finger – Doak chose to be thankful for our House (Home): the blessings of shelter, electricity, WIFI, and dogs. He then jumped back on his ipad.

• Pointer finger – Maren chose to be thankful for our Hands: the ability to make and serve and work. Our baker then enjoyed a bite of sourdough bread she had made earlier in the day.

• Palm – At the core of my thanks is my faith. Psalm 92:1 encourages us to express gratitude. “It is good to give thanks to the LORD.”

Finally, as is our custom, I have three commitments this week to be safe 100%. My 3:

• I will wash or sanitize my hands before entering the kitchen. (I don’t cook much, but I do graze.)

• I will shake the hands of all my family and friends we see next week. (The C-ville crew.)

• I will hold the hands of Missy and our kids at least once on Friday while we are enjoying some small family time. (Hook’em Horns!)

This Thanksgiving holiday, I encourage you to create your own personalized turkey hand and share it. I would love to see the things that for which you are thankful.

And for the ~2,000 craft who may be working this week, many on Thanksgiving day, along with our corporate support teams (ops leaders, safety managers, tool center techs, job and payroll and billing and technology specialists), I am thankful for YOU!

May we all enjoy a safe, healthy, and blessed Thanksgiving!

-Jake