What are you thankful for?

 I started a tradition at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Going around the table, I asked each person say what they are thankful for. It is interesting to hear and watch their faces as they express their thankfulness for one or several things.

Thanksgiving was started as a celebration for harvest time and good crops. In 1621 (as the history writes) a gathering of the Plymouth colonists and the 'Wampanoag' people (native Americans in the area) feasted on deer, duck and geese. Thanksgiving did not become an official holiday until Lincoln's presidency in the 1860s. The turkey was eaten because it was big and did not produce eggs, like chickens, or beef from milk producing cows. Turkeys were so big, plentiful and it could feed an whole family. OK, enough of history.

As most holidays have evolved, they have become centered around food because it is a common thing for families to seat around the table and, not only eat, but to hopefully talk. Which sometimes escapes us in our busy lives. In our house, not only family is at our table, but friends, neighbors, co-workers and anyone that may not have a close-by family to join with. We do not want them to spend their Thanksgiving in a Denny's alone.

But giving thanks for something or things you cherish is a must. A lot of people give thanks for their family and friends. That's great. I give thanks for many things. Good health, a vaccine for Covid, my career in the fire service, my God, my wife, my family and dear friends, our freedom, our soldiers in harm's way, just to mention a few. But I give thanks ALL year long. Every birthday I have gives me more time to enjoy and cherish the things I love most.

Thanksgiving Day is not celebrated in all countries, it's mainly an American holiday, but there are other forms of thanksgiving in their own cultures like ours. The idea is to just give thanks and celebrate and cherish those things you have.

Sometimes the world may feel dark and divided, but if you really look around, you will realize we have a lot to be thankful for that other countries do not. Bare essentials like food, clean water, and shelter. It may hard to for you to imagine drinking water out of a dirty river and feeling hungry all the time, or living under a cardboard roof. We are VERY fortunate.

So on Thursday as you gather for that big feast, before you eat, ask the attendees to say what they are thankful of ... and then talk, tell a joke or blow a kiss to your spouse across the table and be thankful for this gathering of people you love. Happy Thanksgiving!