Christmas is a celebration when many of us share gifts and great food with family and friends, and it’s also a time for counting our blessings.

I’m certainly proud to celebrate Christmas and the meaning that it holds for me and my family and I think for millions of Americans it’s a time for us to be thankful. It’s a time for us to recognize that we have received blessings that have enabled us to be one of the most prosperous countries in the world and Texas to be a leader in our nation.”

Todd Staples is Texas’ Commissioner of Agriculture.

“It’s a time to reflect and give thanks for our families, and to really focus on the importance of raising a new generation of Texans that understands individual responsibility, and that creates prosperity, and I think that’s a message that we all need to focus on.”

Tom Boggus is director of the Texas Forest Service.

“My folks have done a phenomenal job this year in helping to protect Texas, so I guess I would wish everybody, we’re in this lull, we’ve gotten some rain, and I think my folks are going to get to be home for Christmas with their families and that’s the best gift anybody could have ever given them so, you know thank the Lord for that, that my folks are not going to be out fighting fires this Christmas. They’re going to be sitting around with their families and enjoying it with the rest of us.”

And of course without our country’s strong agricultural base, many of the gifts we give each other and the wonderful food we share would not be possible.

“I’m thankful to our farmers and ranchers that provide the most affordable, the safest, the most abundant food supply in the world. We need to make certain that they can continue to do that each and every day.”

So as you prepare to enjoy your family’s Christmas customs, give a little thanks for the agricultural producers in our country who make our traditional celebrations possible. I’m Shel Winkley, looking at Brazos Valley Agriculture, From The Ground Up.