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.