Thanksgiving Day has always been a special day to me. I'm blessed in so many ways and it's an important day to remind myself of that. It's also a day for great eats! Love the turkey, the gravy, the pie. Love the football on the TV. Love spending the day with friends and family.

This year, I'll be on the air with you in the morning with our traditional "Turkey Phone Bank" show--call us if you have any questions on how to cook your bird!We'll have chefs on hand to answer your questions. Eric Spillman will visit a few homes to see how folks are doing in their kitchens.

Later, the Buckley family will enjoy dinner with our friends, the Lachmans, who were kind enough to accept our invitation when we...invited ourselves over! On Friday, we'll head down to San Diego for a basketball tournament and enjoy the weekend with my parents who will join us there.

In short, it'll be a great weekend and I'll be giving thanks for all of it on Thanksgiving Day. On that day, I will also no doubt think back to one particular Thanksgiving Day from about 20 years ago when I was working as a reporter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, that wasn't so wonderful.

I was still single and had just started working in North Carolina. I hardly knew a soul there and of course, I had to work the holiday. I was with a photographer who couldn't have been more depressed about working the holiday and while I started the day trying to think positive--it was tough given the company. We ended up eating pressed turkey at a Shoney's Restaurant for our Thanksgiving meal and then I went home to an empty apartment. I felt pretty blue by the time I went to bed.

I think about that memory because I suspect some of you may find yourself alone on a day when everyone else seems to be celebrating with family and friends. It can turn what's supposed to be a wonderful day, into a sad one. My advice? Go to your local shelter, your local church, your local food bank or senior center and pitch in. Last year, I spent just a couple of hours at the Los Angeles Mission helping to feed folks on the day before Thanksgiving and it was incredibly satisfying. You'll be surrounded by people, you'll be doing a great thing for your fellow man, you'll make a friend or two. And speaking of good works on Thanksgiving--I wanted to recommend a great program that will air on Thursday evening at 6 P.M. on CNN.

My old pals at CNN invited me to a taping of the program last weekend called "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute." It was shot at the Kodak Theater like a big-deal awards program and hosted by Anderson Cooper. There were musical guests like Alicia Keyes and John Legend. Presenters included Cameron Diaz and Hugh Jackman. But these awards weren't given to fellow celebrities and stars. The honorees were "ordinary people" who've made an "extraordinary impact" through their volunteer efforts. Among the recipients--a Los Angeles nanny, Marie Da Silva, who lost 14 family members to AIDS and now funds a school in her native Malwai for children orphaned by the disease. It's moving stuff and the kind of program that makes one think about all the need out there and all the folks who are giving so much of themselves to fill those needs. If you can't catch it on Thursday, I recommend it for your TIVO list.

Happy Thanksgiving.