Thanksgiving Eve

Thanksgiving is the big holiday for gratitude in America. It is portrayed as being a direct descendent of times past when the ship Mayflower carrying English Separatists (Pilgrims) headed for the Hudson River was blown off course and ended up at Cape Cod Bay. 100 passengers and 25-30 crew spent the winter on the Mayflower.

The first Thanksgiving feast lasted 3 days having enough food for 13 Pilgrims and 90 Indians. The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating "thanksgivings"—days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.

Magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote the famous nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, had lobbied for decades for a Thanksgiving holiday to be celebrated nationwide on a specific day. She persuaded President Abraham Lincoln that such a celebration could help unify a nation fractured by the Civil War. Lincoln’s proclamation, dated Oct. 3, 1863, established the last Thursday in November as “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” Hale was a powerful advocate for women’s education as exemplified by her being a founding member of the Vassar women’s college and frequent articles supporting education and employment for women.

For most Americans, Thanksgiving is a family event leading it to be the busiest holiday for travel of the year. For those with more disconnected family relationships, such as myself, it is a time to spend with friends.

I have spent the last 7 Thanksgivings with my friends Carol and Lise. We share a meal and then a movie at a local theater. Meal locations ranged from fine dining at Daniel’s Broiler at the top of the Hyatt to a Presbyterian church buffet with home cooking being the plan for last year. (The church was closed.)

This year, it is again back to the 1^st Presbyterian Church for the buffet followed by a movie. The best movie Thanksgiving movie so far was the first James Bond with Daniel Craig. Tomorrow, we are going to get together, eat & chat, and then look at the movie schedule to see what is playing at a convenient time.

I am grateful for getting to spend time with my friends Carol and Lise as a holiday rite on Thanksgiving and Christmas. It adds strong sense of stability and security to my life.