I’ve always been a bit chagrined about this truly American holiday. The original Thanksgiving was a traditional harvest festival first celebrated in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The settlers who crossed from England aboard the Mayflower struggled through a very hard winter that they would not have survived without the help of the Wampanoag Native Americans who shared seeds and taught them to fish. Two years later in 1623 the Plymouth colonists observed their second day of thanks in response to the end of a long drought that had threatened their crops. Over the years days like these when the new Americans took time to fast and give thanks became commonplace. By 1789 George Washington called on the American citizens to express their gratitude for the end of the War of Independence and the beginning of a new country. At the height of the Civil War in 1863 Abraham Lincoln entreated the war weary citizens of this country to ask the Good Lord to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable strife” and “to heal the wounds of the nation.” So a country that separates its Church and State calls upon God to bless its endeavors and sets aside a special day to thank the Lord for his bounty and blessings. Seems terribly incongruous to me, but I like it anyway.

After pulling a number of Thanksgiving postcards from the files for this post I’m a little surprised that all of the cards seem so secular. According to the postcards in the Curt Teich Postcard Archives Thanksgiving really is turkey day. Only two of the Thanksgiving holiday cards I pulled from the files did not picture a turkey. Instead they showcase the turkey’s noble table accoutrements, the vegetables, my favorite part of the meal. I was also a bit surprised that of the sixteen cards only one depicts a family actually giving thanks and it seems that they are only thankful for the turkey that is gracing their dinner table. Four of the postcards feature the stars and stripes in some aspect and I especially like the one that shows the star of the Thanksgiving dinner waving Old Glory.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised. Today Thanksgiving seems to be all about the enormous, calorie laden dinner, the endless football games, and the last staging day before the Christmas shopping frenzy begins. It saddens me that the true harvest festival aspect of the day seems lost in the hype and overkill of television advertisements for the shopping deals that begin at midnight. The meal that was once the center of the celebration is now for some, only an interruption of hours and hours of football games. I’d like the day to return to its original intention, but I suppose that will never happen. Too many of us are caught up with what we don’t have and what we think we need.

To me Thanksgiving is a day to be with family and friends celebrating all that is good and abundant about our lives. It’s a good time to take a little stock of ourselves, to ponder what is true and meaningful and remember to be thankful for the gifts and graces that have been bestowed upon us. We are spending the day with my husband’s family on a little farm in southern Illinois. I know we will have time to be outside, to walk, see the animals, catch up with the family and with what has happened with my niece, nephew, and sister-in-law in the last few months since we were together. This has been a difficult time for them. My brother-in-law passed away unexpectedly last May and this is the first time we will all be together since then. It will be a time of reflection and sharing good memories and probably a lot of good laughs. The food will be abundant and wonderful and the house will be filled with old folks, us middle folks, the generation Xers and their offspring. Yes, that’s what my Thanksgiving is really all about...what is meaningful and true. I hope yours is the same.