THANKSGIVING

6 DAYS TILL THANKSGIVING!  No way…it has to be more than that.  It … oh my, THANKSGIVING IS IN SIX DAYS!

THANKSGIVING – DID YOU KNOW?

No pumpkin pie – delay Thanksgiving:  In 1705, Colchester, Connecticut postponed Thanksgiving, for a week, until enough molasses could be found to make pumpkin pies.

Jingle Bells – wrong holiday:  We consider Jingle Bells a Christmas song.  Au contraire!  One Horse Open Sleigh, composed by Jame Pierpont in 1875, was originally a Thanksgiving song.

Touchdown:  Thanksgiving Day football is not a recent happening.  If you purchased your train ticket soon enough, you might have attended the game between Princeton and Yale which started this tradition in 1876.  This tradition quickly spread to high schools and colleges. 

Dinner is over, let’s shop:  The economy has long been a consideration when setting the date for Thanksgiving.  In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Thanksgiving would be moved one week earlier to lengthen the Christmas shopping season.  Many states did not comply, so a second proclamation, in 1942, declared the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day.

Leftovers:  In 1954, an employee of Swanson & Sons made a slight miscalculation, which resulted in 260 tons of extra frozen food.  A salesman, always on the lookout for a way to increase his commission, suggested food on an aluminum tray.  An assembly line was formed and 5,000 trays were filled and marketed as TV Tray Dinners.  Are you ready?  They sold 10 million turkey TV tray dinners in their first full year of production. 

Set free:  A couple of Presidents could not resist the pleadings of their children and released the turkey presented to the White House.  George H. W. Bush was the first President to officially pardon a turkey.  In 1989, he announced, “The turkey has been granted a presidential pardon as of right now.”  Never fear.  The First Family does not go hungry.  Two turkeys are sent to the White House and the second one is invited inside to get warm.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is like all holidays.  It is a combination of history, traditions, and memories.  Above all, Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks.  Or maybe, just maybe, every day is a Thanks  Giving  day!

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with THANKSGIVING and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100