Feeling depressed? Make a gratitude list. Resentful? Get to a gratitude meeting. All you need is an attitude of gratitude.

It can border on the trite, the saccharine, the listing small blessings for which one might be grateful: the rain didn’t become torrential until after I got home, that driver let me merge into the exit lane, I caught a whiff of azalea, my favorite pair of jeans are clean, my brand of peanut butter is on sale, I heard the grumpy crossing guard laughing with a passing child this afternoon.

Now, Pumpkins* isn’t a typical Thanksgiving story. And it might not even really fit our monthly theme of generosity. The man was creative and acted with a sense of whimsy and determination, an admirable sort, but he didn’t send his four hundred sixty-one thousand, two hundred and twelve pumpkins all around the world out of generosity.