Thanksgiving is a tradition that my family always cherished. Growing up, every Thanksgiving was spent with my Mother's side of the family. It was the one time of year I also got to see my Aunts, Uncles and cousins and sitting around my Grandparents ship wheel dining table (Grandpa was a tugboat Captain) eating ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and snap beans while trying to listen to the half-a-dozen simultaneous conversations at once. When my Grandmother passed 15 years ago Thanksgiving was a bit more sporadic and we often traveled to one of my Aunt's home or my Mother would put on Thanksgiving but it was never the same as when Grandma was alive. A few years later we moved away and started holding Thanksgiving ourselves usually inviting other friends over to share in it with us. Now it feels like it has more meaning as a part of me can relate to what it must have been like for those early pilgrims to have landed in a new world where the usual surroundings and even the food was so different from what they were use to.
Thanksgiving is now one of my favourite traditions and is something we will continue to celebrate and its full of the truest meaning of thankfulness as it also falls during the same time of year that my family and I made our big move to Australia, of which we couldn't be more thankful for. So every year on November 16th we celebrate our Thanksgiving and our Anniversary of landing in Oz together. Making sure we're all together as one, reliving those first amazing yet scary memories and of making new ones in our new world. :)
Things have certainly evolved over the years as it seems the holiday is celebrated more as a reason to get together and eat a big meal with loved ones, not that there is anything wrong with that, but a lot of people really don't know how the holiday came about and I wanted to take a look at the real reason behind the First Thanksgiving and how its become what it is today.
In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers—an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World. After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay, where the Pilgrims, as they are now commonly known, began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth.
Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years and tragically remains one of the sole examples of harmony between European colonists and Native Americans.
In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving”—although the Pilgrims themselves may not have used the term at the time—the festival lasted for three days. While no record exists of the historic banquet’s exact menu, the Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow wrote in his journal that Governor Bradford sent four men on a “fowling” mission in preparation for the event, and that the Wampanoag guests arrived bearing five deer. Historians have suggested that many of the dishes were likely prepared using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods. Because the Pilgrims had no oven and the Mayflower’s sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal did not feature pies, cakes or other desserts, which have become a hallmark of contemporary celebrations. (www.history,com/thanksgiving)
It's so sad that this is the only real time of peace between the European Settlers and the Native American Indians, because what followed afterwards was certainly far from peaceful and goes down in the Hall of Shame of America's beginnings.
In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln made the last Thursday of November a national day of Thanksgiving but since November doesn't always have 5 Thursdays President Franklin Roosevelt decreed it to take place on the 4th Thursday of November in 1939. It was always celebrated as a combination of a Christian Religious holiday of Thanks, as a Thanks at the end of a bountiful Fall Harvest and with rememberance to the First Thanksgiving all those years ago.
It seems today's Thanksgiving is more about the Turkey and the Pumpkin Pie and only a few observe it as a day of Thanks for being able to be with their loved ones. So as I sit here and write this I'd like to remind you all to remember the meaning of Thanksgiving, to make it your own so the meaning holds true. To be thankful as you sit around the table with your loved ones, be thankful that they are with you. Be thankful for the journeys life takes you on, for the blessings you have in your life and the people in it. Don't be afraid to tell those people how much they mean to you and how thankful you are for them.
This year we had friends from Church over to share Thanksgiving with us. It was a nice time to catch up and eat great food. I made some good Southern-American comfort food (because that is how I like to cook) of BBQ Pulled-Pork, devilled eggs, homemade rolls, tossed salad and brownies. Our lovely guests brought some wonderful fruit salad, ice-cream and several wines. It was nice evening had by all. I truly love to cook for friends and family.
I've noticed on Facebook that everyone is adding a daily status of what they are thankful for, so I decided I'd get it all out at once here, since I'm horrible at remembering to do something on a daily basis.
So here goes…
I'm thankful for my amazing husband, for the love and support he shows me, for the dedication to our family and kindness in his heart. For allowing me the opportunity to be a stay at home mom, for fully supporting me and even joining in my decision to return to homeschooling. For always being there for me whether I need his guidance or his understanding. For the Faith he has in me as a Wife and Mother and for all the quirky new things I like to try whether it's wanting to learn to play the Cello or to teach myself how to Sew, he often gives a giggle and then finds a way to make it happen. For believing in me and helping me start up not one but three businesses. For giving me a loving shoulder to cry on or for simply cuddling on the couch together every night. But I think more than anything, after 17 years together he still looks at me as though he can't wait to be alone with me and that I still hold the key to his heart.
I'm thankful for our beautiful children. For their kindness and wise understanding of the world. For accepting that oftentimes Mom and Dad know best. For listening and being respectful to me, to their father and to each other (most days). For no matter what wrestling match, squabble or disagreements may happen between them, outside of this home they have each other's backs totally and completely. For the innocence I still see in them and the love of Family and of God that they share with us. For the love they give me touches my very soul and I know I could not survive without them.
I'm thankful for my parents, though things have been strained at times between us, I know that they love me and my family and that they are always there if I need them. I'm thankful that they raised a strong independent woman with a deep love of family. I'm thankful for the rest of my family too though its been years since we've all been together, I miss them too. I'm very thankful I have found out I have family here in Australia. Though we haven't met yet I'm looking forward to it and I love our conversations on the phone. She's been here for 25 years and I'm so thankful to have her in my life. She's amazing and has been so great at filling me in on how things are down here. I love that we have so much in common and can't wait to get to know each other even more.
I'm thankful for my friends, though I don't have many here in Australia, the ones I do have are pretty awesome. They've helped me to adjust and they've been so supportive of the life we are building here. I'm thankful for my friends back in the States, that we still stay in touch, even though it's not as much as we would all like. I miss them so much and I appreciate all the things I have learned from them over the years. I especially miss my baking buddy Aimee, who taught me how to make homemade bread. I never make bread nowadays without thinking of her and all the fun we had baking together, along with our love of country living, raising chickens, homeschooling our kids and how much we enjoyed how alike our handy fix-anything hubby's were as well. We shared a love of many things and had very little we differed on, well she's a Ford girl and I'm a die-hard Chevy girl so that is a pretty huge difference lol. But we made it work as it's so rare to find a friend like that who really "gets" you on a true level. Leaving Alaska was hard simply for leaving her and her beautiful family. I miss them but am so thankful to have had the chance to know them.
I'm thankful that in today's world, economy and what seems like a revolution of sorts when it comes to things like our rights, food, money and way of life, that we were able to make our way here and start anew. I look forward to the opportunities on the horizon for us and the dreams to finally come true.
Oh and last but certainly not least I'm thankful for my dogs. Willow, my furry four legged soul-mate and her beautiful Mama, Myshka.
Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless
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