I decided to Google “Thanksgiving.” That was fun. I found a six-foot inflatable turkey that, if my husband had his way, would be affixed to our roof (so please don’t mention it exists if you see him).
I found links to all sorts of heated debates about whether or not the Christmas shopping season should really just start on Thanksgiving Day: Black Friday is getting so blasé, isn’t it? Heck, why don’t we start the day after Halloween?
Scrolling through the list of Google-generated possibilities, I stumbled upon a Wikipedia article. Sure, people question the validity of the information on Wikipedia, but would they put this stuff on the Internet if it wasn’t true? Exactly. I cannot verify the factual integrity of what I read, but it was fascinating stuff nonetheless.
The first documented Thanksgiving, as we all learned in grade school and through the poignant “Brady Bunch” re-enactment, was celebrated by the Pilgrims and attended by Native Americans. According to Wiki, however, it lasted not one, but three days. THREE DAYS? I do not want to imagine three days of such feasting. The one-day celebration we enjoy is already the undoing of every snippet of diet advice I cram into my head each year. Forget all of those magazine and news articles about “how to keep it lean this Holiday Season.” When I see the plain sweet potatoes sitting next to a crock filled with marshmallow- and brown sugar-topped sweet potato casserole, my memory of any and all “keep slim” tips is immediately erased.
The same Wiki article held a bit of info that I found even more astounding than three days of binge eating. It turns out these feasts of thanksgiving were fairly commonplace. They were regular events. Giving thanks was not something that went by the wayside until the fourth Thursday of each November. These folks were grateful to have food to eat all year long. They felt blessed to just survive, and their hearts were full and thankful because they were able to escape religious oppression.
A group of friends and I take a moment every morning to write down three things for which we are thankful. Making that one short list has a profound effect on each of us. Starting each day by remembering that there is always something we can be grateful for puts our focus where it is supposed to be: on what we have, rather than what we have not.
Times, they are certainly changing. Holidays are celebrated with and without gluten, with and without the mention of God, and seem to come with a new six-foot inflatable with each passing year. I love the holiday season. I love it so much that I cannot understand why the notion of stretching out the spirit of gratitude and goodwill all year gets less press than stretching out the number of shopping days we can squeeze into that month between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Enjoy your turkey and football. And if you see me coming, hide your sweet potato casserole. ♦
