I’m grateful for where I live—the farm, the community, our little town, our state, and our great country.

I’m thankful for my family, for the blessing of being able to share my life with my husband; I’m grateful for the three children God blessed me with, and for the life lessons they’ve taught me—and continue to teach me. 

I’m thankful God chose me to be their mother.  What a Blessing I’ve been given.  Perfect? Not them, and certainly not me.  But so very blessed to have raised them—and we’re all still growing in those blessings, together.

I’m thankful for my health, for my friends, for people I do business with, and for the people I regularly come in contact with.

I’m grateful for my clients; I’m thankful for my mind, and that I’m able to work and think, and plan.  I appreciate the work I’ve been blessed to be able to do.

When things don’t go right (our version of “right”), we can still know we’re being blessed, we just aren’t able to see the finished product yet. 

We have a Father who knows “the rest of the story”, and if we trust Him, He’ll make sure we’re taken care of in the long run.  He’s worthy of our gratitude, and our praise, and our trust.  And we can always be thankful for that.

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Thanksgiving is pretty much my favorite holiday.  For our family, it’s usually about the whole family getting together, sometimes with added neighbors or friends.  It seems like a natural time to feel Thankfulness and Appreciation.

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year.

We attribute the first Thanksgiving Celebration to be the Pilgrims and Indians being thankful together, sharing food and fellowship.  It seems that’s partly true.

I think Thanksgiving facts and myths have blended together for so long, someone said it’s like gravy with mashed potatoes—hard to separate them.

Our Thanksgiving “of today” may not hold 100% to factual roots, but it gives us a perfect opportunity to bring our minds and hearts to a thankful state, and can be a totally enjoyable time, in the light of “togetherness” and “thankfulness”, going with a tradition of sharing a special meal with friends and family, and with gratitude.

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Here is some history I found, researching the facts about Thanksgiving.

In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers.  They were an assortment of religious separatists (called Puritans) looking for a new home so they could freely practice their faith, along with other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in “the New World”.

The crossing lasted 66 long and treacherous days.  They dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, North of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River.  Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring.

A month later the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay where the Pilgrims (as we know them) began establishing a village at Plymouth.

It seems that three years prior to the Pilgrims landing, English and French fishermen came ashore to find fresh water and firewood, and transmitted diseases to tribes that were there.

According to Potawatomi.org, the plague wiped out between 90-96% of the inhabitants of coastal New England, and many Native Americans died.

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Squanto (Tisquantum) was a member of the Wampanoag tribe.  The story goes that he assisted the Pilgrims with teaching them how to grow crops and take advantage of North America’s bounties.  So evidently this happened, but it looks like there is more of a reason than from the greatness of his heart.

Six years before the Mayflower arrived, a slave trader captured Squanto and other Native Americans.  It is said that the Catholic Church helped Squanto escape.  He found his way to England, where he learned English, and eventually returned to North America in 1619, a year before the arrival of the Pilgrims.

While Squanto was overseas, the plague (they called it European diseases) left a great death rate among the Indigenous people, and Squanto returning to his village of Patuset, found only piles of bones of his fellow tribesmen killed by the plagues.  He realized he was the sole survivor in his village.

Where Squanto’s village once was, the pilgrims established Plymouth Plantation.

During this time, the Wampanoag lost up to 75% of its people, even though a nearby tribe (the Narragansett) did not.  Massasoit was the leader of the Wampanoag tribe, and saw the pilgrims as possible allies against the Narragansett.

Since Squanto could speak English, he was a good choice for Massasoit.  Massasoit used him as a translator, but he did not trust Squanto, even though he was his fellow tribal member, and he held Squanto as a prisoner.

It seems Squanto was pretty shrewd.  The Pilgrims at this time were weakened by malnutrition and illness, and rather than continue a life as a slave to Massasoit, he established himself as a valuable resource to the pilgrims so the pilgrims could be an ally with the Wampanoag, against the Narragansett. 

He taught the settlers how to survive in their new land.  He helped them grow corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers, and to avoid poisonous plants, as well as how to use fish to fertilize their fields.

He helped make it possible for the Wampanoag tribe and the Pilgrims to make a treaty in March of 1621, that the tribe would look out for the Pilgrims against their enemies, and vice-versa.  This treaty endured for more than 50 years.

In November, 1621, the Pilgrims were shooting their guns—some say celebrating their first successful corn harvest; some say hunting—but the shooting caused Massasoit to bring his warriors prepared for battle. 

Realizing their celebration, it seems Massasoit actually sent some of his own men to hunt deer for the feast, and the feast lasted for 3 days, and the English and Native men, women and children ate together.

The meal consisted of deer, corn, shellfish and roasted meat.  Some think it also consisted of lobster, seal and swans.

(According to history.com, this feast was organized by Governor William Bradford, and he invited the Wampanoag Chief Massasoit.)

This is remembered as the First thanksgiving.

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The second Thanksgiving celebration was in 1623, to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened the year’s harvest, and it prompted Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast.

During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days each year as Thanksgiving days.

For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. 

George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government, calling on Americans to express their gratitude for the conclusion of the country’s war of independence and the ratification of the U. S. Constitution. 

President John Adams and President James Madison also each designated days of thanks during their presidencies.

In 1827, magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday.  She worked for 36 years to accomplish this, and earned the nickname, the “Mother of Thanksgiving.”

Finally in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that all Americans were to ask God to “heal the wounds of the nation”, and proclaimed the National Holiday of Thanksgiving.

Again, some say this was a totally political move to distract the people from the actual problems that were going on, as Lincoln himself had apparently ordered several Indians to be shot just prior to this.

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That First Thanksgiving Day may not have been the sunny portrait we see in pictures, with excellent relations between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag people.  (Some Natives even commemorate a National Day of Mourning on that day at the top of Cole’s Hill which overlooks Plymouth Rock.)

(And for what it’s worth, it seems the Puritans’ shoes did not have buckles). And instead of wearing black clothing, it seems they actually wore bright colored clothing.  And the Natives actually didn’t wear woven blankets or feathered headdresses.

We know that days of thanksgiving are celebrated in countries all over the world.  And historians have noted that Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking in their past history before the Pilgrims came to our country.

Regardless of how or why the First Thanksgiving happened, we can see that their times were hard. 

Our nation’s leaders encouraged celebrating Thanksgiving Days at various times, but looks like it was mainly during the hard times.  And it’s good for us to celebrate and be thankful, during “harvest and bounty”, and during hard times.  Wherever we are.

So as we celebrate our Thanksgiving Day, cooking, visiting, being Thankful, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, or whatever we do… let us remember to truly be thankful for the Blessings we have been granted.

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Did you know that if you are having a bout of feeling sorry for yourself, the best antidote is to think of things to be thankful for?  Writing a few of your blessings in a journal is even more powerful.  I believe it is a good practice to do this every day.

Gratefulness strengthens your immune system, and

Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains…

Gratitude has been shown to reduce a multitude of toxic emotions, from envy and resentment to frustration and regret (according to Psychology Today).

It increases happiness and reduces depression.

It reduces aggression, and increases empathy.

Grateful people sleep better (according to Psychology:Health and Wellbeing).

Gratitude improves self-esteem, and

Gratitude increases mental strength…

It reduces stress, and

It helps overcome trauma.

Gratitude is a major contributor to resilience following a major traumatic event (according to Journal of Personality & Social Psychology)

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I’m very thankful for my life, my family, our church family, our Sunday School Class (so very thankful for each one!)

I’m thankful that I have the opportunity to share helpful thoughts about health and well-being.

I’ll be having Thanksgiving Dinner at our house this year; and all three of my children will be here, and most of the grands.  We may be eating in shifts, but we’ll have a good time and will be together.

“Being Thankful” is a good habit, and having a special day to celebrate being Thankful is a great boost if we can take a few minutes out just to feel the feeling of appreciation for the good in our lives.

Thank you for reading, and whatever situation your life holds right now, I hope as you celebrate Thanksgiving, you are thankful for all the many blessings you’ve been given.

Sharon