Hey there, my fabulous readers! Can you believe it? The holidays are sneaking up on us and before you know it, we'll be stuffing our faces with turkey and fighting the urge to unbutton our jeans. That's right, we are already in the holiday whirlwind. My two all-time favorites, Thanksgiving and Christmas, are just around the corner. In fact, I've already got the Thanksgiving decorations up, and I've even begun to excavate my Christmas stash from the depths of storage, ready to unleash the festive madness the weekend after Turkey Day.
So,before we dive headlong into the mashed potatoes, did you ever stop to consider the history behind this feast? We all learned the basics about the pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower in 1620, but Did you know that almost half died between the rough crossing and disease with in the first year? It wasn't until a Native American named Squanto taught them how to cultivate corn, catch fish, and avoid poisonous plants that they had their first 3-day meal of celebration, now called Thanksgiving! Did you know that while no pumpkin pies were mentioned in the feast, Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow suggested the very first Thanksgiving meal included seal, swan, and lobster?
Let's fast forward a hundred years and the Continental Congress designated 1 day a year as a time for Thanksgiving. Did you know that in1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the government of the United States and 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?
Did you know that in 1817 New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday?
Did you know that writer Sarah Josepha Hale, nicknamed Mother of Thanksgiving, spent 36 years writing letters to politicians and launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday? Her persistence paid off when Abraham Lincoln, at the height of the civil war, sent out a proclamation to "heal the nation's wounds" and set the nationally recognized holiday for the fourth Thursday of the month.
Did you know that while a turkey may not have been on the pilgrim's menu back in 1620, today almost 90 percent of Americans eat the bird—whether roasted, baked or deep-fried—on Thanksgiving! Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, greens, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. And let's not forget the weird tradition that started mid-20th century of the president of the United States sparing a couple turkeys from the chopping block each year and sending them to a farm for "retirement."
There you have a just a bit of the rich history of this national holiday. So, when I gather around the table with my family and friends this year, I'll be sure to pause and reflect about the historical journey that brought us to this moment and, of course thank God for my blessings, and for you and your family. Thank you for reading my blog, until next time!
Signed,
Sherri Myers
The Royal Realtor