Thanksgiving might just be my favorite holiday. My Christmas tree usually goes up the day after Thanksgiving and comes down on Epiphany, marking 6 weeks of giving thanks, giving gifts and giving myself new goals to fall short of by the following New Year's Eve.
Christmas is delightful, but as holidays go, it's a bit confused. While I deeply honor the birth of Jesus, my inner nitpicker is a little too aware that December 25 was a date appointed by human design. Besides, Jesus' gifts were less about price and more about cost. Saint Nicholas is a much better match for our current Christmas traditions. By all accounts a very good man, he is also the patron saint of merchants, thieves and little children.
Easter is lovely, and I don't mind having eggs and rabbits gathered around the open tomb. But Easter is really about life beyond the limits of our five senses – hard to capture in a simple holiday.
July 4th, Memorial Day, Veterans Day: our holidays mark the passage of time and events, and that is good. The cycles of tradition carry bits of flotsam that show where we came from and who we have become and draw us back together when the petty differences of life divide us.
Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is more than tradition. It's a celebration of the simple blessings of humanity and cooperation.
Forget our petty arguments. Can you think of two groups whose agendas were more diametrically opposed than the Pilgrims and the Native Americans? Yet there they were, mutually thankful for their survival.
Forget for a moment the harried race to get more, faster, and better. Appreciate the genius who figured out that cranberries could be jellied. Taste the recipes of generations. Stop. Focus on the smells and sounds and be thankful if you can.
Reach across the table of life to those who are different and find your common points of gratitude.
And may you have a happy, blessed Thanksgiving Day.
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