Build a robot baby for Christmas?

Let's start off with an interesting news item. It seems this childless couple in the UK built themselves a robot they named AIMEC, and now they treat him (how do they know the gender?) as their son. He's brilliant, funny, musical, and helpful around the house, they say. Maybe they'll even make him a baby brother.

Before you jet off to read the article at Helium.com, be forewarned that you'll be greeted with an annoying barrage of pop-up ads. But it is a fun story. And ladies, if your husband doesn't want an actual child, maybe he'd go for this. Most guys like gadgets.

But seriously, Thanksgiving is this week. Right away, our holidays don't look like the ones we see on TV because we don't have children and grandchildren to gather around the table eating turkey and pumpkin pie. Unlike parents, our plans don't revolve around our kids. That gives us some freedom to choose what we want to do, but it also may spark feelings of sadness and loss.

I'll be spending Thanksgiving with my dad at my aunt's house. My brother is coming, and I'll see some cousins I haven't seen for a while. But I'll be the one flying solo, the one whose life bears no resemblance to everyone else's.

What can we do? I suggest we all spend just a little while thinking about what we don't have and a lot of time feeling grateful for what we do have. One of my friends at church, for example, is in a wheelchair. She can't walk, she weighs over 300 pounds, her husband died recently, and she has no money and no way to earn any. Compared to her situation, I am blessed in so many ways.

Let's count our blessings, folks. It could be worse.