f we would have been around in November of 1621, we would have been able to participate in the first Thanksgiving celebration.  It occurred in Plymouth when the colonist and the Wampanog Indians gathered to have an autumn harvest festival. History notes this as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations.  It was said to have lasted for three days.  There were continued observations of Thanksgiving until President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a National Holiday in 1863.

 

History will tell many stories about just why this first and continued celebrations were held, but most of us like to think that the participants were celebrating their continued success in the New World. It was their way of celebrating just how thankful they were to have been able to sustain the hardships of settling in a new place and being successful.  Because of their religious beliefs they were thankful to higher power for having made this opportunity available.

 

As we read about those first celebrations, their reasons for having them and the food they enjoyed, we think about just what happens now with our celebrations.  Certainly, most of us will have the traditional menu of turkey, dressing, potatoes, and cranberry sauce.   Family traditions will dictate that some families have adopted other specials for their dinners and of course, most of us will end the dinner with pumpkin pie.

 

When we were very young children in school, we observed the holiday with Thanksgiving plays with most of us dressing up as a pilgrim or an Indian and we learned verses which we recited and we presented an adaptation of the first dinner.  When we gathered for dinner with our families, generally, we went around the table reciting just what we were thankful for.  I remember most of those recitations were for our mother and father and for everyone being together and just general items.

 

Now as I enter into my 77th year, I think daily of just what I have to be thankful for.  I am so thankful that I have a faith that sustains me through the trials and tribulations of daily life. I am thankful for the many friends and family members who are here with me to send prayers my way and to let me know they are on this journey with me. I am most thankful that I do not have to wait for just one day in the year to celebrate Thanksgiving, but that I can gather with my loved ones on a daily basis and convey to them just how thankful I am that they are in my life. One of the most important things to me is that I have had the opportunity to express just how much these individuals, in my life, have meant to me and just how thankful I am for their support.    I would hate to think that I have not been able to thank each and every one of them for their acts of kindness on my behalf. The most precious gift that I have been given is the opportunity to do this. I am so thankful for the many strangers who come up to me and inquire about my health and advise me that I have been in their prayers.  There are so many wonderful people out there and I for one, am so thankful for them.

 

Certainly, we will all gather on Thanksgiving and enjoy the traditional menu.  We will exchange stories of past gatherings, I will tell them about the first turkey I prepared and left the giblets in it. I will remind them of the many times I fixed Stove Top stuffing and hoped that they believed that it was my own original recipe only to learn that they really like Stove Top better than an original recipe. I will be so proud to place Dave and mine mushrooms on the table for the first of the season, a tradition they wait for.      Hopefully, each of us will convey just how thankful we are to be a member of this family. We celebrate that little Dave will be enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner.  We are thankful for the success of our Ohio grandchildren.  We are thankful that our college kids, Ben, Miranda and Holli are with us.  We will celebrate the success of Hunter and his presence with us.  We are thankful for Cathy and Marty and that beautiful daughter.   It is wonderful to be able to celebrate in Leslie and Dixon's new home, No, we do not have to be confronted by those same hardships that the original Pilgrims faced, but each of us have a special confrontation that we have faced and have overcome and for this we are most thankful.

 

I am thankful to have the opportunity to come to you every week through the Grapevine and Dave and I wish each of you a blessed Thanksgiving.

 

Keep in touch with me and until next week "Now You Have Heard It through The Grapevine."