What Thanksgiving Means to Me

I grew up in a family, my mother’s, that seemed to thrive on spirited dinner-table debate, and nowhere was that more vivid than on Thanksgiving. I was very thankful that the little girl went home with all her fingers.

It was Thanksgiving of 2010 that everything changed for me when my parents sat my sister and I down and told us the news that my father had been diagnosed with cancer. Many great memories come flooding back and I am amazed at all the awesome things I am grateful for.

I remember eating Thanksgiving when I was in the Navy. Doesn’t that just give you a bit of an “Oh No!” feeling? Thank goodness we won, because we got some turkey on the field – that was the only way I was going to get turkey that day.

“Today, as Americans and Pennsylvanians, we continue to hold our independence as one of our proudest values, and we continue to work towards peace in our homes, communities, schools, workplaces, state, and nation”.

And, I am thankful for the many opportunities that lie ahead. Everything after that is gravy. For example, my husband has offered to make the pie crusts a couple of days in advance for Thanksgiving Day pies because he knows I’ll be busy with lots of other details for the gathering – I am so thankful that he’ll have those ready for me when it’s time to assemble pies. And as Christmas approaches, take time also to remember God’s greatest gift to us – the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

So for today, we will provide the following historical highlights of Thanksgiving, to remind everyone why we celebrate this special day in the first place. You can’t be around Rick and not want to do something about hunger. We often take our food supply for granted.

It’s not easy to pinpoint how we got to this place, but it is easy to understand that we must find a way through it, together. We are about 20 percent done.

For starters, the vast majority of us are delighted that the 2016 political campaigns are over. Today, I am grateful for my team.

I dare say each of our lists could fill an entire book, if we just took time to realize the blessings we so enjoy.

If you can not feed hundreds of people, then just feed one!

Dealing with hunger is an overwhelming task if you look at the totality of it. We all need time away in order to see how good things are when we return. While we eat our meal, we each announce our answer to the everyday question: What was your favorite part of the day? I have watched my Facebook news feed in recent days and have watched the debates, name-calling and breaks in friendships and familial relationships – and it’s very disheartening. I wish you could be here on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving to me means being grateful for everything. Because they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, they start celebrating Christmas in mid-November.

I encourage you to be kind to your neighbors every day, but especially around the holidays, as this is the time of year where loneliness, depression and grief are amplified.

The least we can do this holiday season is say thank you to them, by contributing what we can to their effort. This was a family event that we wait for from year to year and now it is spoiled by my work. We have thus commercialized the antithesis of the meaning of the holiday and distracted ourselves from asking the big questions of life that derive from being thankful.