Happy Thanksgiving to All! The modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition that we have all become accustomed to can be traced back to a poorly documented 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present day Massachusetts. This feast and Thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest.
In 1863, Thanksgiving was celebrated on the same date in all states with a proclamation by then President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln proclaimed the date to be the final Thursday in November in an attempt to foster a sense of American unity between the Northern and the Southern states.
It was not until 1941 that the unified date changed to the fourth Thursday (and not always final in November). In this country, while Thanksgiving is not a religious celebration, it is celebrated by many, if not most, in the US. It is also the most traveled holiday in our country, with the Sunday after Thanksgiving being one of the busiest on US highways.
If you are traveling this weekend, please bear this in mind and leave extra time if you are making a long journey to visit either friends or family. I can remember 30 years ago traveling back to Maine on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we got stuck in the worst traffic jam I had ever seen in my life. If my memory serves me correctly, we were in Pennsylvania where a major East/West highway intersected with a major North/South highway with traffic backed up as far as you could see, three or four lanes wide. I thought there was a serious accident causing the hold up, and I had to keep shutting the vehicle off because it was over heating (what a pain!) As we got closer, we realized it was a toll plaza. We sat in traffic for approximately two hours and it may have been one of the most stressful two hours in my life, not knowing if the car would start after each time I shut it off. After that experience, I promise you, that you will never see me traveling any long distances on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Needless to say, I was not a very educated traveler at the time.
Hopefully you are planning a gathering of some sort and are blessed with a bountiful meal complete with turkey and all the fixings. This year, we will be spending Thanksgiving at camp with my in-laws, my wife's sister and her husband, and their three daughters. Together with our two sons, that makes a total of eleven. I will be missing my daughter who is in India but the good news is that Leslie will be home for Christmas.
Thanksgiving is a time of thanks and I wanted to list a few things that I am very thankful for and would encourage you to do the same.
I am thankful for:
1. the health of my family
2. that I live in the USA
3. my family and friends
4. our volunteer armed services
5. my strong work ethic
6. my ability to help and give back to others
7. our first responders
8. both my staffs at the Dine-ah and at G & E Roofing
9. our hospitals, doctors and nurses
10. all of you, our patrons and loyal followers
This is to name a few and I'm hoping you will take this holiday and reflect on things that you are thankful for.
As always, I enjoy hearing from you.
Wishing you all the best!
