Thanksgiving Thoughts
November 24th, 2014
Photo taken by D Sharon Pruitt
Ah Thanksgiving, the one time of the year where total indulgence is encouraged and expected. Families come together, turkey is trimmed, belts are loosened, naps are taken, football is watched, and Black Friday game plans are hatched.
It has been ~40 years since we’ve made hand-shaped turkey drawings or participated in the school play about the first Thanksgiving, so we decided to do a little research and reacquaint ourselves with why we celebrate this holiday. We found that the holiday as promoted in American history, is a celebration of the harvest with a nod toward thanking God for the season’s bounty. But there is A LOT more to it, so we encourage you to read all about it when you have some time.
The holiday’s observance (as we know it today) was signed into law December 26, 1941, by President Roosevelt making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law and fixing the day as the fourth Thursday of November (also giving retailers a longer selling season).
What hasn’t changed tradition-wise for 393 years, is the consumption of turkey. Roasted turkey is a mainstay menu item, paired with other table stars like mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet corn, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie.
Other typical Thanksgiving traditions include:
We can’t help but wonder how Thanksgiving might change. One thing we know is that with the advent of Pinterest, we have much more options for our leftover Turkey.
