I love the holidays, and if I had to
choose an absolute favorite, it would be Thanksgiving. A day of gathering with
family and friends dedicated to giving thanks. (Here is a picture of Papa and I
and our four grandchildren.)
As many of us were taught, the first
Thanksgiving took place in the fall 1621. It was a three day feast of thanks
hosted by the Pilgrims and a local tribe of Wampanoag. Intermittent days of
thanks continued for the next hundred and fifty years, often celebrating an
event, good harvest, or end of a time period, such as a drought or battle. In
1777, George Washington declared the last Thursday in November as a ‘national
day of public thanksgiving and prayer’ which all thirteen colonies celebrated,
particularly giving thanks for the new constitution of the newly formed nation.
The next national day was declared in 1789, by then President George
Washington. However, it still didn’t become a ‘yearly’ celebration, until 1863.
For over 40 years, Sara Josepha
Hale, the author of Mary had a Little
Lamb, advocated for an annual day of Thanksgiving, and during the Civil War
while looking for a way to bring the nation together, President Abraham Lincoln
consulted with Ms. Hale prior to issuing the Thanksgiving Proclamation that
declared the last Thursday of November (based on Washington’s date) as a
national holiday.
75 years later, in 1939 retailers
begged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to change Thanksgiving to the second to
the last Thursday of the month, therefore giving people more shopping days
before Christmas. He did so, but the confusion didn’t settle well with the
county. Calendars were off, schools vacations had to be rescheduled, and yes,
even football games reorganized. Many believed the reason of the date change
was not a fitting cause and controversy split the nation. 23 states agreed to
change the date, and 23 states refused. Colorado and Texas chose to celebrate
both days. Even though businesses reported no real direct change in shopping,
the two Thanksgivings (with states choosing which to observe) continued until
1941 when congress passed a law declaring Thanksgiving as a national holiday
that would occur on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
So, there you have it.
History and controversy aside, for
me, Thanksgiving is all about family around our house. If I live to be a
hundred, nothing will ever replace the sweetness of the word “Grandma!” I am
thankful for so much, every day of my life—for living in a wonderful country,
for freedom, for my right to worship God, for all the obvious and not to be
taken lightly things which include my family, home, community, friends,
vocation, my publishers and their belief in me, and especially the people who
read and find delight in my books. Thanks for sharing this wonderful life with
me.
My Thanksgiving wish is that each of
you reading this blog has a blessed and beautiful holiday.
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