Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Dearest Friends,

Happiest of Thanksgivings to you darlings. 

"Thanks" (noun):  An expression of gratitude or a feeling of gratitude
"Giving" (verb):  Freely transfer the possession of (something) to (someone); Bestow (love, affection, support)
"Gifts" (noun):  A thing given willingly to someone without payment

All of these words are positive in nature and active in their intent.  It sounds almost as if some sort of magical or an amazing process is about to take place.  The awesome-sauce thing is that you can be on the receiving end or the giving end of "Thanks" and "Gifts".  This isn't conditional either.  No fancy memberships or certain requirements need to be met.  We get overly caught up in our lives and forget to recognize what we have been given and forget to give to others.  Or we think "Oh whoa is me.  Nothing good ever happens".  Poppycock!!!  

 

Today is about living and giving with joy.  Sing out loud.  Hug the person closest to you.  Have another glass of wine.  Make a list.  Put on that red lipstick.  Give thanks friends!  And then with a joy filled heart give that amazing to someone else. 

Buon Turkey/Tofurkey Day! 

PS-We made it!  Another 30 days 'challenge' complete.  This Church Lady is going into hibernation for a few days.  There may be some random posts on the blog but I'll be back in full swing starting December 1st with our Countdown to Christmas Challenge (fancier title coming).  Thanks for reading my little manifestos. 

PPS-This is my favorite story as told by Garrison Keillor to Real Simple Magazine. 

At the risk of sounding like Pastor Bob of Pigeon Knob, I have to say the best thing about Thanksgiving is the thankfulness part. It certainly isn't your loud relatives and their embittered children, and it isn't the weather (overcast, with a 50 percent chance of snow.)
It is the sheer gratitude for the fact that you have somehow, once again, navigated the treacherous channels of life and avoided the greasy hand of death and have not thrown your savings down a rat hole or contracted an insect-borne disease so rare they plan to name it after you.

It's an unjust world; mortality has us all by the tail; we live in a culture of complaint; and yet, as we all know, there is much to be grateful for -- though we're reluctant to say so, fearing it may sound smug or boastful.

In my childhood, Dad bowed his head and gave thanks to God -- for the food, for redemption, and other stuff -- a fine custom that I have discontinued.

My prayers sound pompous to me ("O Thou Who didst create the growth hormones that produced this enormous bird ... ",) and I feel odd saying them in front of Jews, agnostics, atheists, "spiritual" people, Uncertains, Rosicrucians, ophthalmologists, and the tired old Anglicans at our table.

But I also feel odd if the food is hauled into the dining room and we simply dig in and feed like jackals at the carcass of a fallen gazelle. There should be a graceful pause, a meaningful look around the table, an appropriate word or two. To that end, I had a table grace painted on the dining-room wall above the mantel.

"O Lord, we thank Thee for this food,
For every blessing, every good.
For earthly sustenance and love
Bestowed on us from heaven above.
Be present at our table, Lord.
Be here and everywhere adored.
Thy children bless and grant that we
May feast in paradise with Thee."

If I printed the prayer on cards and passed them around, it would feel like a school assignment. Instead, I just look up at the wall and start singing (to the tune of the doxology), and everyone else in the family chimes in.

If it sounds good, we might segue into "America the Beautiful" and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." And toss in the hymn "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow," sung to the tune of "Hernando's Hideaway." It isn't a party unless you sing a few songs.

Group singing is one more thing for which I am grateful. It's civility in its purest form. If you have a few hairy-legged baritones and basses, you can launch into "Old Man River" or "On the Road to Mandalay."

Although you must all resume toting the barge and lifting the bale tomorrow, it's inspiring to hear 15 people find harmony around the Thanksgiving table. And it sets a tone. No crying in the cranberries. Lighten up. It could, as we say, be worse.

Gratitude and Thankfulness: T minus 17.5 Hours!

Happy Day Friends!

Thanksgiving is almost here.  Hooray, Hooray!  Are you making the final preparations in your kitchens?  Or are you staying in and ordering out?  My hubby pleaded with me for a day with just us at home and we were working out our little menu last night.  Neither of us really likes to eat turkey (funny as he's TURKISH-ha ha!) so I think we are going to make some of the sides and then.....I might even try the stuffing in the Red Maiden.

I love Thanksgiving and I'm grateful for the time spent with family and friends and I feel like the sentiment should be carried on until Christmas.  I want to get a shirt made that says "Family, Friends and Food.  NOT stuff". 

So here are some random facts for the day. 

Not only was Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879)  a writer and editor, the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and helped campaign for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument but she is the person most responsible for making Thanksgiving a national holiday.  Here are the highlights but go look her up.  She's amazing.

 -Her parents believed in the education of both of the sexes so her Mother made a point to educate her at home
-She married David Hale and they had five children.  He died young and for the rest of her life she wore black as she was in perpetual morning.
-Her novel, "Northwood:  Life North and South" (US)/ "A New England Tale" (UK) made her one of the first women novelists in America and also one of the first people to every write a book about slavery.  The book espoused the New England virtues as a model of society was an instant success. 
-She believed and advocated wholeheartedly against slavery and believed that not only does slavery hurt and dehumanize the slaves absolutely, it also dehumanizes the masters and retards the psychological, moral and technological progress of their world.  (Could be applied to a lot of areas in life even today......)
-Reverend John Blake, after reading her book, asked her to move to Boston to be the editor of Ladies' Magazine.  She preferred to call herself an editress.  The intention of the magazine was to help educate women.  Hale is quoted as saying, in reference to the education of women, "not that they may usurp the situation, or encroach on the prerogatives of man; but that each individual may lend her aid to the intellectual and moral character of those within her sphere"
-She is most known for getting Thanksgiving on the map.  It was originally only celebrated in New England and each state would schedule their own day. She started advocating for the holiday in 1846 and her campaign lasted 17 years and 5 Presidents were the recipients of her never-ending parade of letters.  It wasn't until Abraham Lincoln was president that her efforts finally paid off.  In 1863 Lincoln put forth legislation to establish the national holiday.  The new holiday was considered a unifying day after the stresses the country suffered after the Civil War.  Prior to 1863 the only National Holidays that were celebrated were Washington's Birthday and Independence Day. 

Whew! 

I heard about a new thing called Plaid Friday.  It's a movement that encourages you to support the diversity and creativity of local, independent businesses on the day following Thanksgiving by wearing plaid and shopping at their shops rather than participating in the Black Friday madness.  Full disclosure,  I like getting up for Black Friday just because it's a stunt and not because I need another shirt from The Gap at 50% off.  However, this year I'm thinking of having a craft-in.  Early morning crafting and brunch followed by heading over to a local store and then spending the rest of the day watching Christmas movies and visiting with friends :) 

Hope you have a wonderful day. 

Love, Love, Love.