Yesterday...Thanksgiving

Yesterday as I was stuffing myself at both my family's get-together and at my in-laws, I couldn't help but think about a family my sister (a vice-principal here in Indy) told me about this summer. This was the family's first Thanksgiving, and I'm sure they have a lot to be thankful for. This family came from Malawi, and two of their children are at my sister's school (in fact neither child, a boy and girl, had ever been to school). No one in the family speaks English, or at least none did until the kids went to school, and according to my sister they are soaking everything up like little sponges. They are being helped by the surrounding community and I believe have been able to find work and are beginning to hopefully live their American dream. A true Thanksgiving story a move from a refugee camp to Indianapolis.


I will try and follow along with their progress through my sister and post updates. Its really inspiring to hear about brave people like this!

On Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1691 as a three day "thank you" to the Wampanoag tribe for helping the new colony survive. From there the Thanksgiving tradition spread to the other colonies, but didn't have a specific day where everyone gave thanks until 1789 when George Washington Proclaimed November 26 as a day of Thanksgiving. This date didn't really catch on, and Thanksgiving continued to be celebrated on various days through out the different states. In 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling on all Americans to give thanks on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving had another change in 1939 when FDR moved if forward by two weeks, but this didn't stick. Because some states celebrated the original date (Lincoln's date) and some celebrated the new, it was decided to change Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of each year.

These are some facts about how Americans ended up with Thanksgiving. Here are some other facts to think about as we sit down to our Thanksgiving meals, whether they be with the traditional turkey, tofurky, or even better special K loaf.

1) Tomorrow over 1,000 people will be killed in Darfur
2) Tomorrow 16,000 children will die from hunger related causes
3) Tomorrow 13.9 million children in the United States will go hungry

So tomorrow enjoy your turkey, tofurky, special K loaf etc. and give thanks for what you have.