'Tis the season when those influenced by American culture talk of turkey, holiday shopping and, occasionally, giving thanks.

We here at The Daily are definitely giving thanks. We are thankful that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes finally got hitched; perhaps he will stop jumping on couches, and the media will stop following his every move.

We are also thankful that after the divorce dust settles, we'll never have to read headlines about Kevin Federline again.

We are thankful the Democrats have the majority in Congress and have, among other things to come, asked that the Bush administration replace its family-planning chief who has been an opponent of birth control.

We are thankful for other indications that the public as a whole is not completely insane: Public outcry killed the release of a "fictional" book and TV special by O.J. Simpson that would have provided a "fictional" account of how he murdered his wife and her friend Ron Goldman.

We are thankful that scientists have recently said, just in time for the Thanksgiving cranberry sauce, that cranberries may have potential to protect against heart disease, cancer, strokes and viral infections.

We are thankful that a recent secret CIA report has found no proof of Iranian nuclear arms.

We are thankful that not all news is bad news: The Seattle Times reported yesterday about a Seattle attorney who survived two harrowing nights in the backcountry near Snoqualmie Pass after becoming separated from her hiking partners.

We are thankful for the way life works out sometimes. Case in point: The circumstances that brought 10 people together in a Maryland hospital to be part of the world's first-ever quintuple kidney transplant.

We are thankful that we have the opportunity to be educated at a university like the UW, and hope that the legislature provides more higher education funding so as many students who want to can experience the same thing.

We are thankful that the weekend comes early.