RAYMO’S RAMBLINGS – MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY
MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I don’t think too many people would say that Thanksgiving is there favorite holiday. But I do!
It is by far my favorite holiday. I have always liked what Thanksgiving is about, like giving thanks for the blessings that you have, spending time with family and friends, food, parades, football, and rest.
A little history lesson about the holiday Thanksgiving. The event that Americans commonly call the ‘First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621. This feast lasted three days and was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims. President Lincoln made it a holiday in 1863. I really enjoyed reading what Wikipedia had to say about Thanksgiving.
However, I feel Thanksgiving is becoming lost and almost forgotten by retail businesses trying to get a jump on Christmas. It really angers me when I start seeing Christmas stuff in stores and television commercials about Christmas the day after Halloween. I’m not sure what to do about it. I wish everyone would speak up and say enough of that, we need to celebrate Thanksgiving and give it its full attention.
Some of my favorite childhood memories are celebrating Thanksgiving with family, going to grandpa and grandma’s, or an aunt or uncles place. My favorite Thanksgiving was 1969 at my aunt Deeny’s place in the country, I think by Madelia Minnesota. I was twelve years old, and the reason I remember it so well is because the Minnesota Vikings were playing the Lions in Detroit in a snowstorm and our whole family was gathered in the living room cheering on the Vikings, and Jim Marshall intercepted a pass, then pitched the ball back to Alan Page, and Page ran it in for a touchdown! The living room was packed with people and we all were jumping up and down and screaming and cheering! It was so much fun! Also another memory is listening to a number of people in the kitchen playing guitars, violins, accordion and singing songs and everyone having a great time. And of course, as a twelve-year-old growing boy, I ate a lot of turkey and pie. I was absolutely miserable afterwards. I miss those days!
My routine on Thanksgiving, and it has been this way since I can remember. Get up, watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, watch football, eat the traditional Thanksgiving meal, watch more football. All the while spending time with family. A family tradition at the table is to go around and say one thing you are thankful for and then we pray and thank God for blessing our family.
And that is why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, it’s about thanking God, and spending time with the people you love. Happy Thanksgiving!
