I’ve never given much thought to the Thanksgiving holiday. It doesn’t really show up on the radar here in Britain. But this year has been a bit different.

A few weeks ago I began to get messages asking me what I was planning to do for Thanksgiving drawing lessons. (You may have tried my Turkey, Pilgrim Father and Pilgrim Ladies lessons.)

And today is Thanksgiving, so it’s time to move on and post new videos and think about Christmas, except…

This year I’ve become more aware of what Thanksgiving means to Americans. Thanks to the Pilgrim Fathers’ voyage of the Mayflower – battling dangerous seas, escaping prejudice, starting over in hostile territory – giving thanks has become part of the American Psyche.

We Brits rarely thank anyone. We grumble about the weather a lot and complain about the government and are frequently quite cynical when someone publicly gives true thanks for their good fortune. I think this is one of the major differences in the character of our two nations.

So today, I’ll go against my national stereotype and thank all of those who’ve found and enjoyed my drawing videos this year. Your comments and encouragement have kept me going and still enthuse me to continue to make new lessons and explore this amazing new medium.

I’d like to say thanks to my Publishers for still believing in me, and my editor, Sarah, and all the editors I’ve worked with before, who have encouraged me and drawn my best work out of me. Thanks for letting me do what I enjoy and what I do best. I know how lucky I am and how many others would like to be in my shoes.

Thanks to my family, obviously, for putting up with me and being there when I’ve needed them.

Thanks to everyone who’s bought or read one of my books, to all the schools that read my books and especially those that have invited me to come and tell stories and spread my knowledge and experience, letting me visit parts of the country and the world I would never have believed I would ever get to.

Thanks to all the hard-working and misunderstood librarians, who have supported me along the way and invited me to their libraries.

Thanks to everyone and everything along the way, who have made me who I am. Thanks for the bad times that have let me recognise the good times when I’m having them. Thanks for everything that has been a lesson to me.

Thanks for the beauty of nature that daily gives me moments of pure pleasure – the colour of autumn leaves, brilliant sunsets, a walk in the woods, the first fluffy flakes of snow, cats chasing leaves around the garden.

Thanks for this beautiful world and this extraordinary universe. May it keep supporting me and mine, letting me follow my heart and my dreams.

Amen