Happy Thanksgiving!
I am so grateful today for everyone who’s ever been interested in one of my blog post, articles or social updates. After all, if I didn’t have you, who would I write for?
Every year I compose a Thanksgiving greeting. It’s an honor to share a few thoughts with you today.
Did you know we have Abe Lincoln and Sarah Josepha Hale, a 74-year-old editor of a woman’s magazine, Godey’s Ladys’ Book, to thank for this national day of Thanksgiving? Before 1863, each state held its own Thanksgiving day.
What are you most thankful for this year?
Top 11 Reasons Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
1. It’s both quiet and noisy.
2. I can cook and cook and cook – or not, depending on who’s hosting.
3. It reminds to realize the phenomenal power of simply thanking others.
4. Decorations can be natural and minimal and they don’t have to light up.
5. Families come together, for better or worse – and always leave better off for having been together.
6. Memories get revived and shared and new stories get added to the collection.
7. It takes forever to do the dishes, which means more time to talk.
8. Warmth fills homes and hearts with traditional almost secret to this family rituals.
9. Teens and college kids must be present – no excuses.
10. Leftovers
11, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
For years, for us, it really was over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s farmhouse we go.
We always arrived after dark, driving up the long rock driveway after hours on the road. More often than not, we carried in sleepy bundled up kids.
On Thanksgiving morning we’d walk in the barnyard with Grandpa Tony. If we were lucky, and we usually were, his pet wild turkeys would follow us from the pigpen to the hen house to the cattle yard to the horse in the barn and back to the playhouse in the side yard.
Thanksgiving was small, intimate and devoted to two things: food and football.
This year, we’ll be with our extended family at my sister’s house. She’s cooking. I’m not. It’s her turn to host. I get Christmas this year.
We’ll eat too much. Laugh more. And wonder how so many years went by so fast.
My newsletter got this message last night. What they didn’t get was this image and this story.
I bought this statue at a resale shop in town for $5.
I liked his rugged hominess. And, I needed something besides flowers and candles to spark up my Thanksgiving table. So, I grabbed this guy.
He reminded the kids of the movie “The Indian and The Cupboard.” They liked to move the last fish on his line. What would happen if he did come to life? After Thanksgiving I moved him to a bookshelf and forgot about him.
Until teacher conferences the next year. “It was so nice of you to let your son bring in your statue,” his teacher said. “He told the class how expensive he was. You know, because you got him downtown at Marshall Field’s.”
“Statue?” I asked. “Which one did he bring in?”
“Oh, the one with the Native American brave holding the corn and the fish. I hope you don’t mind that we let the kids pass it around.” she said as she winked at me.
“Of course not, I’m glad the class enjoyed him.” I said as I smiled back.
In this image, he looks almost happy and directly into the camera. In reality, he’s very serious.
When I was think about an image for this post, this one seemed to fit.
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