Thanksgiving

 Jenny asked about our Thanksgiving Day.  If you live in the U.S. you can skip this post, but if you don't well, here's a run down on ours.

First of all, the day began to commemorate the survival of the Pilgrims who came here in 1621.  They survived the first year here with half of their company still alive but they survived with the help of the natives who showed them how to plant and fish and hunt.  The pilgrims were not farmers and had no idea how to.   The idea of giving thanks for survival was not new to the natives of any culture but the idea that there was bounty after a year of starvation was something for the pilgrims to be thankful for.

It took well over 200 years of scattered thanksgiving days here and there and one person, Sarah Hale, to bring the day into focus and fix a date.  Sarah Hale was quite the progressive woman and she had a formidable weapon.  Her pen.  She was born in 1788 and was the first female magazine editor in America and when she wanted people to pull together for a cause she picked up her pen and wrote. 

Well, she did the same thing for Thanksgiving.  People were ignoring Thanksgiving because it wasn't a cohesive event.  So she wrote letters to politicians asking that the day be a national holiday.  She convinced other women to write letters and eventually politicians listened but the day was still not declared a national holiday with a fixed date.   

Sarah went through years of letters to four presidents before she found a true listening ear with Abraham Lincoln. President Lincon saw the value in bringing the country together to give thanks.  It took Sarah 38 years of writing thousands of letters but she finally succeeded.  

Still, it wasn't until Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 that Congress agreed to set the date as the fourth Thursday in November and set the day in stone for good.  

So, while our kindergarteners learn that the Pilgrims 'invented' Thanksgiving and invited the natives to come eat and it's been that way ever since, well, that part is mostly myth with small kernels of truth. 

Today Thanksgiving has become the kickoff for Christmas, it's a day of football games, but mostly, it's supposed to be a day to be with people who matter to you, have a nice meal and just stop and take a breath and be grateful for what's in front of you. 

Ever since our daughter got married and she and new husband moved to South Carolina and PH and I went to spend the holiday with them, she has done the cooking.  When they moved back to Michigan she asked if she could continue to "have Thanksgiving." I had my years before that and was happy to do the dishes now.   

Thanksgiving is a day we use the good china, real table cloth, real napkins, food not from boxes or cans.  While we, in our family, don't dress up our bodies in fancy clothes, we do dress up the table. 

She works for days to fill the table with goodness.  Again, nothing from boxes or cans.  She has learned from me you cook "from scratch." And for this day in particular you go for the effort.  She and SIL do the day proud.  Notice way down at the end of the table by the window, that bowl in front of PH is full of noodles.  It seems to get placed in front of him every year!

                                                                   This says it all.

And this year, as we were sitting at the table laughing and talking it dawned on me we have 4 1/2 teenagers in the family and declared THEY can do the dishes.  Sweeties that they are, they didn't even object!  They split the duties, some cleared the table, two washed and dried, one put away, and I told them I would do the pots and pans.  

We all come home with enough leftovers for at least one meal so we all can take another bite and be grateful.