I’ve Been Thinking . . . About Thanksgiving

Yum!  Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans, brussels sprouts (Nancy’s idea!  At least they will include bacon.), cranberry salad, rolls, pumpkin and apple pies.  The Thanksgiving feast.

The size of the gathering varies.  Sometimes it includes friends.  This year, family.  Nine.  We’ve had larger and smaller gatherings, perhaps as large as 20 when Nancy’s parents and my mother were still around to join us.  One year found Nancy, Michael, and I eating without the others.  (We completely broke tradition and ordered a super burrito and tacos from one of our favorite Mexican restaurants; I asked them to shape the burrito like a turkey – they thought I was joking!)

After one of the brothers who owned Stroud’s became seriously ill, they stopped their dinner program.  We returned to making our own.  Realizing how good we had it with Stroud’s, we began trying other restaurants that were, by this time, offering similar takeout dinners.  Some were better than others.  This year we’re trying the “Little Store,” which sells delicious Italian food – their turkeys are deep-fried.  We always supplement our core meal with sides that we particularly enjoy.

The tradition of Thanksgiving is steeped in history.  In the United States, its origins generally are attributed to the Pilgrims after their first harvest following their landing at Plymouth Rock.  No definitive account exists, but the celebration typically involves a feast with the Puritans and the Wampanoag Native American tribe that had taught the Pilgrims how to farm and hunt – how to survive – in their new home.  The following painting depicts “The first Thanksgiving as imagined by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris in the early 20th century. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.”  Ironically, while turkey is the centerpiece of today’s feast, that first Thanksgiving more likely featured venison, lobster, and waterfowl; and no pies because sugar was not available.

Though considered the origin of Thanksgiving, the “Thanksgiving” celebrations were common in parts of Europe as a day of prayer and thanks.  Other countries – including our neighbor, Canada – have their own Thanksgiving holidays.  Evidence of feasts thanking the gods for bountiful harvests appear in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman histories. (I think the Romans feasted a lot!)

Thanksgiving has an interesting history in the United States.  George Washington called for a day of thanks following the success of the Revolutionary War.  It was not until 1863, however, when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a national holiday, after a decades-long campaign.  It was likewise proclaimed by succeeding presidents as occurring the last Thursday in November until Franklin Roosevelt moved it up to the third Thursday to extend the “Christmas shopping season,” and help the country climb out of the Great Depression.  (Do you recall President Bush’s direction following the 9/11 attacks?  Go shopping.  We are indeed a consumer economy!)  The holiday later was set as the fourth Thursday in November, whether last or not.

Gimbel’s Department Store offered up the first parade in Philadelphia, but it was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City that set the standard, beginning in 1924.  A few million viewers line the parade route and it’s covered on national television networks.  It was somewhat immortalized by the movie, Miracle on 34^th Street.  (The best version, in my humble opinion, is the original, filmed in 1947, and starring a young Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle.  An interesting tidbit is that the parade scenes were filmed at the parade in 1946, and Edmund Gwenn actually filled in for Santa in the parade.)

This Thanksgiving, I hope you can watch the Macy’s parade on TV, enjoy a delightful dinner with family and friends, catch a few short naps during lulls in the football games.  Or whatever your particular Thanksgiving tradition involves.  Enjoy.  Happy Thanksgiving.