Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such an American event that I can’t help feeling patriotic when I experience it. Part of the experience for me is reading several versions of the Pilgrims’ story aloud to the children. I ache when I am reminded of the physical struggle they experienced during that first winter in Massachusetts, where half of them died. I try to imagine what it must have been like to have been a true stranger in the country I call my own. Then I am reminded that none of us (or at best a tiny few of us) is native to this land we fiercely claim as our land when we sing, “This land is your land, this land is my land.” But for all of us transplanted here either by distant relatives or more recent ones, Thanksgiving Day is a time for our families, for our traditions, and for giving thanks.
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I hope you and your families make memories during these days together as you celebrate the gifts you are to each other. We’ll be doing that at our house, too.