About last night...

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

At one point last night--at several points, actually--I turned to my wife and asked, "What, exactly, are we doing here? Can you believe where we are?" I suppose there are people who are blasé about State Dinners, but we are not among them. I was honored to attend. It was a warm and glittery evening in a beautiful place...with better-than-average people! It was a thrill to see everyone--the boldface names, obviously--but more importantly: the members of the military stationed throughout the dinner, members of the uniformed and protection divisions of the Secret Service, and the outstanding White House servers and ushers--many of the great people I've come know over the years...they make the place go, and it was great to see all of them. Needless to say, it was wonderful to see the President and First Lady and to greet their distinguished honored guests from India. It's not something you ever get used to...nor is there a way to describe how strange it was just now--while typing this--to look up and see my wife and me on cable, in a clip from the arrival last night.

Back to life as usual--there are groceries to buy, houseguests who arrived while I was at work today, the annual family football game on Saturday (which means I'll be walking funny for 3-5 days next week) and football (and the parade, of course) on TV. I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you spend it with your family--and I hope you grab a moment to think of all those serving this country in uniform and their families.

We hope you can join us tonight.