“Today is First Monday after Thanksgiving Day”

This card … we received for “Thanksgiving Day” this year …

from Lee and Darlene,  and the message is so wonderful…

just feel that I must share with the whole wide world!

 

If…  it can not be clear to everyone …I am writing \copying  it just so that  we can all copy and post elsewhere… to remember …

that we all need to be  “GRATEFUL” and being of a nature that will “SHARE and CARE” for others… so that our “DREAMS”

and “FREEDOM” will last forever from “Generation to Generation…”

while  also lasting for all of our tomorrows!

************          **************          ***********

         Especially   at 

           Thanksgiving,

               let us be grateful

            for the FREEDOM

                           we share,

                     the opportunities 

                           we enjoy,

            and the promise

              of  DREAMS…

                           for us and for 

                     the generations  of

               tomorrow.

 


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“After Thanksgiving …What To do” “Start Walking”

“3 Cheers – for the COOKS!”

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“HIP- HIP!  HOORAY!”  “3 CHEERS  – for the COOKS!”

Sure hope that you remembered to say  “THANKS” for whoever made the best of meals this year, and that  you were there to enjoy all of those special selected   and only once a year foods that always put a hundred extra pounds of muscle on … since you will be sitting and sitting … since they taste so good, you just… can not move yourself away from the table…and  join others who have more sense …  as they are having  lots of “FUN” mingling  around the  great outdoors with others… making room for some great desserts!

This picture was taken several years ago and this senior chef with her very  young and helpful assistant, Alyssa  is  also  my Granddaughter of two very loving children…my  extra special great-grandchildren… so,  the two of us pulled off another big feast   for all of those up at the Airport  and for everyone  just flying in …to enjoy???

In this picture you can see,  that it does not  pay to wear  something   “all white” and then have the nerve to stand near the refrigerator???  

This  is not  the best of pictures, since it is also a copy  and … I will have to locate the original…  just to see who’s… who and what’s… what???  

 This is a quick item… since we are still doing things with the last of  one of the  biggest old turkeys!

Sometimes “Turkeys” can last longer…  than you want…  but… they do make good sandwiches, when we are all  in a hurry!

 Hope that you are also… enjoying the last of your “Turkey! …     …. TOO???


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“YOU’RE WELCOMEGIVING DAY”

You're Welcomegiving Day - Day After ThanksgivingYou’re Welcomegiving Day is observed annually on the day after Thanksgiving. Conventionally when someone thanks us for a kindness or service, we respond by saying, “You’re Welcome.” So, it was inevitable that someone would suggest the day after Thanksgiving we should remember to say, “You’re welcome.” 

The phrase “you’re welcome” covers a variety of thank yous in English. Whether the appreciation is coming from an individual or a group, “you’re welcome” works. It can be said while giving a hug, a handshake, or a smile. When we really mean that our effort was meant with care, “you’re very welcome” goes a long way. Our tone and facial expressions say a lot, too.

However, in other languages, “you’re welcome” doesn’t translate so well. The plural and singular “you” is part of the problem. Also, in some languages, the phrase is unknown altogether. Variations of a response to a show of appreciation exist all over the world, but “you’re welcome” as a polite social necessity seems to only exist in English. 

Other similar responses in English exist, but they don’t seem as automatic making them more sincere when spoken. Try these examples out the next time someone thanks you:

  • It was our pleasure.
  • I was honored to do it. 
  • Our home is your home. 
  • I was happy to (fill in the blank).
  • It was a delight having you.
  • I hope someone will do the same for me if I’m ever in the same predicament.
  • We enjoyed (fill in the blank).
  • This is our favorite thing to do!

HOW TO OBSERVE #YoureWelcomegivingDay

What is your favorite way of saying “you’re welcome”? Do you know someone who has a memorial way of making people feel at ease when they’ve completed a favor? You know, someone who is always helping out, and when you go to thank them, they are either gone or their genuine response is something other than “You’re welcome,” but means the same thing.  

On You’re Welcomegiving Day, say “You’re welcome” in your own way. Whether you host an event, volunteer, or help someone out, what’s your favorite way to say, “You’re welcome”? Let us know by using #YoureWelcomegivingDay to post on social media.

YOU’RE WELCOMEGIVING DAY HISTORY

Richard Ankli of Ann Arbor, Michigan, creator of the unreasonable holiday Sourest Day and the rhyming May Ray Day, designated You’re Welcomegiving Day in 1977 as a way to create a four-day weekend.


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“Thanksgiving Is a Celebration of Freedom”

The origins of the national holiday have little to do with Pilgrims and Indians.

By 

Dr. Glock is a historian.

 

Usually the Thanksgiving turkey is served plucked and cooked, but American ethos is to invest old symbols with fresh meaning.
Credit…Buyenlarge/Getty Images

As with so much in our lives, Thanksgiving has become a cultural battleground. Politicians and pundits debate whether we should use the day to memorialize the tragedy of the Indians or to celebrate the new liberties of the Pilgrims in America.

Yet the true origins of Thanksgiving have little to do with the Pilgrims and the Indians, and everything to do with the American triumph against slavery. Far from being divisive and outmoded, Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday for our modern era, demonstrating how we can both uphold and renew our traditions. Most important, Thanksgiving reminds us of how America took its earlier promise of freedom and used it to end the stain of slavery.

In early America, colonies set aside special days of thanks to “Providence” or “Almighty God.” Such days of thanksgiving were usually for good harvests or military successes, like the one proclaimed by the Continental Congress in December 1777 after Gen. George Washington’s victory at the Battle of Saratoga.

But the idea of a regular and national Thanksgiving Day was the work of one woman. Sarah Josepha Hale had already ensured her everlasting fame by composing the rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” when she decided to make a campaign for a thanksgiving holiday. Beginning in 1846, Mrs. Hale wrote letters to every president asking for an annual day of thanks to unite the nation. Her magazine articles spread the campaign across the country.

 

President Abraham Lincoln finally took Mrs. Hale up on the idea.

It was October 1863, just after the Battle of Gettysburg, when Mr. Lincoln declared a national “day of Thanksgiving” to celebrate the Union’s victories in the Civil War. His proclamation said it was “fit and proper” that the country should give thanks for success in a war that would eventually mean “a large increase of freedom.”

The timing of the first Thanksgiving is important. Earlier in the year, Mr. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had turned the Civil War into a battle against slavery. Exactly one week before the first Thanksgiving, the president delivered a speech to commemorate soldiers who had died in that war.

In the Gettysburg Address, Mr. Lincoln argued that the Declaration of Independence had created an America “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” He said it was “fitting and proper” to consecrate the battlefield to those soldiers who had fought and died for that ideal. Mr. Lincoln knew that the ideal had not been fully realized, but he hoped that the Civil War would ensure a “new birth of freedom” for those for whom the promises of the declaration had not yet been fulfilled.

Sarah Josepha Hale would have appreciated her Thanksgiving holiday’s being turned into a celebration of the battle against slavery. Her first novel, “Northwood: Or, Life North and South,” published in 1827, was one of the earliest denouncing the sins of slavery. In it, she explained not only how slavery destroyed African-American lives, but also how it corrupted the life and morals of the masters as well.

Mrs. Hale spent years writing other articles and stories about the baleful effects of slavery. Like Mr. Lincoln, she also wrote about how the Civil War could reunite the nation on a new and higher plane of freedom.

After the war, white Southerners remained suspicious of theYankee abolitionist holiday.” When early Reconstruction-era governors proclaimed Thanksgiving Days in the South, white people ignored them, even while Black people and Republicans feasted. It took decades before Thanksgiving became a truly national holiday. It also took decades before most of the country layered on the tradition of the Pilgrims and Indians as part of that holiday.

A Thanksgiving celebrated by former slaves and abolitionists is one that we too can embrace. Those of us exulting in the day don’t have to ignore our nation’s sins. Yet we can remember that our nation was founded on a peerless ideal, one that promised the expansion of freedom to ever greater numbers of people. For the long and difficult struggle to achieve that ideal, and for our many successes along the way, we can and should be thankful.

Judge Glock is an economic historian and senior policy adviser for the Cicero Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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“TURKEY FREE THANKSGIVING”

TURKEY FREE THANKSGIVING – Fourth Thursday in November

Turkey Free Thanksgiving is observed annually on the fourth Thursday in November.

There are several supportive perspectives for the removal of the turkey from the Thanksgiving feast. From the foodie point of view, there are many more scrumptious proteins than the humble gobbler.  There are also vegetarian and animal rights viewpoints, which are self-explanatory.

Regardless of your perspective, choices abound for a delicious spread without a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. When you keep the yams, sweet corn casserole, pumpkin pie, and mashed potatoes, there are only a few other items left to fill the table. Proteins come in a variety of forms. Chickpeas and quinoa pack a lot of protein. Stuff them along with cheese and seasonings into bell peppers for a colorful centerpiece. For those who need meat on the table, roast a leg of lamb or serve tender prime rib.

HOW TO OBSERVE #Turkey Free Thanksgiving

Enjoy Thanksgiving without a turkey. We’ve provided a few recipes to try, but be sure to share your favorite turkey-free Thanksgiving options, too!

Curried Potato and Lentil Soup
Sweet Potato and Tatertot Hotdish
Chickpea and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Use #TurkeyFreeThanksgiving to post on social media.

TURKEY FREE THANKSGIVING HISTORY

Within our research, National Day Calendar® was unable to identify the origins of this day.


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“THANKSGIVING DAY”

THANKSGIVING DAY – Fourth Thursday in November

Thanksgiving Day is observed each year in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November.

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, amid the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.

HOW TO OBSERVE #ThanksgivingDay

In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original religious significance; instead, it now centers on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends. Turkey, a Thanksgiving staple so ubiquitous it has become all but synonymous with the holiday, may or may not have been on offer when the Pilgrims hosted the inaugural feast in 1621. Today, however, nearly 90 percent of Americans eat the bird—whether roasted, baked or deep-fried—on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation. Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Volunteering is a common Thanksgiving Day activity. Communities often hold food drives and host free dinners for the less fortunate.

Parades have also become an integral part of the holiday in cities and towns across the United States. Presented by Macy’s department store since 1924, New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade is the largest and most famous, attracting some 2 to 3 million spectators along its 2.5-mile route and drawing an enormous television audience. It typically features marching bands, performers, elaborate floats conveying various celebrities and giant balloons shaped like cartoon characters.

Beginning in the mid-20th century and perhaps even earlier, the president of the United States has “pardoned” one or two Thanksgiving turkeys each year, sparing the birds from slaughter and sending them to a farm for retirement. Several U.S. governors also perform the annual turkey pardoning ritual, too.

Use #ThanksgivingDay to post on social media.

THANKSGIVING DAY HISTORY

Plymouth

In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England. The ship carried 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. They suffered from exposure, scurvy, and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived. When the remaining settlers moved ashore in March, they received an astonishing visit. An Abenaki Indian greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American named Squanto.

Squanto was a member of the Pawtuxet tribe, 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. The alliance would endure for more than 50 years, and tragically remains one of the sole examples of harmony between European colonists and Native Americans.

First Thanksgiving

In November 1621, after the first successful corn harvest, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast. He 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 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 suggest that many of the dishes likely used 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.

This history of Thanksgiving provided by www.History.com. For more information on Thanksgiving, go to http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving.

The Next Thanksgivings

Pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving celebration in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened the year’s harvest and prompted Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast. Days of fasting and thanksgiving on an annual or occasional basis became common practice in other New England settlements as well. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year. In 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States; in it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution. His successors John Adams and James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies.

In 1817, New York became the first of several states to adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday officially; each celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South remained largely unfamiliar with the tradition. 

National Observance

In 1827, the noted magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale—author, among countless other things, of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday.For 36 years, she published numerous editorials. The editor sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents, and other politicians.

At the height of the Civil War in 1863, Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request. In a proclamation, he entreated all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” President Lincoln scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November. It was celebrated on that day every year until 1939 when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as Franksgiving, was met with passionate opposition. In 1941, the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.


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