Thanksgiving...

[birdguy 3,943]

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here who celebrates Thanksgiving on this day.

I would like to share with you an old Thanksgiving story; one of the collections of stories about my boyhood that I wrote for my grandchildren.  It happened long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away..

 

Thanksgiving Guests

It was about a week before Thanksgiving. World War II was raging, and the USO took out ads in both the Call Bulletin and the Examiner asking people to invite servicemen to their homes for the holiday. Mom called the USO and asked them to send over two.

By Noon on Thanksgiving day all of the family had arrived at the house. Grandma was there. So was Cousin Emile and Uncle Bob and Aunty Mit. Mom set out the crackers and cheese and everyone was talking about their jobs, about the war, and about the shortages of meat and sugar and gasoline. We didn't have a car, so Dad wasn't concerned about the shortage of gasoline, but Uncle Bob and Cousin Emile were.

Mom began to wonder if our guests were going to show up. The USO said they were going to send over two. The table was already set and the food was almost ready. I don't know how many ration coupons Mom used for the turkey, but it must have been quite a few. It was the biggest one we ever had.

About one o'clock they knocked on the front door. Dad opened it, and two sailors were standing there. They were dressed in their blue uniforms, pea jackets, and white hats. They introduced themselves as Mike and Joe.

Lee and I were excited. We didn't know any servicemen. Dad and Uncle Bob were too old to be drafted. Cousin Emile had a medical problem. Dad's business partner, Ray, was in the Army, but we hadn't seen him since he left for basic training. I think he was somewhere in Italy.

Mike and Joe were a little shy and didn't quite know what to do. Dad introduced them to everyone and they sat down on the couch. Lee and I sat next to them.

Mom and Aunty Mit began asking them questions about their homes and families.

Mike was from Michigan and Joe was from Texas. They hadn't been overseas yet. They were stationed at Treasure Island, waiting for their ships to arrive in port.

Lee and I asked them about ships and guns and what it was like to be in the Navy. We asked them everything small boys want to know about war, and what they probably wanted to forget for a while. But they were nice about it, and even let Lee and I wear their hats and pea jackets for a while.

By the time Thanksgiving dinner was on the table the two sailors were more at ease. They began talking freely about their homes and their families, and how much they missed them. I thought that was odd. Why would anyone want to stay home when there were great ships to play on and a great war to go to.

We seldom said grace before meals, but on this day Dad bowed his head and thanked the Lord for our good fortune, and for the guests he sent us this day, and asked that He watch over our two sailors when they sailed out into the Pacific.

Mike and Joe obviously enjoyed the meal, and the conversation, and the attention they were getting. They stayed until early evening and then they had to leave. They had to be back on Treasure Island by 9 o'clock.

We said good-bye to them. Lee and I stood on the sidewalk and watched them walk down the block. Just before they turned the corner they turned and waved to us. We waved back.

We went back in the house. Mom was wiping her eyes with a handkerchief. Dad put his arm around her and said, "They'll be alright." Lee and I wondered if anything was wrong.

We never heard from Joe again. A few months later we got a letter from Mike, somewhere in the Pacific. It didn't say much, just that he was now on his ship and he thanked us for the Thanksgiving dinner.

Many of our classmates had relatives in that war. Until now, Lee and I had none. But we considered Mike and Joe our relatives in the war. When anybody talked about a cousin or brother or uncle in Italy, or North Africa, or Guam, Lee and I would tell them that our adopted cousins, Mike and Joe, were in the Pacific.

 

Noel

[philmurfin 73]

Hello Noel,

Living in the UK I don't really know about Thanks Giving, is it a religious celebration or simply a national thing?

Either way I read and enjoyed your story from start to end - Thank you!

Phil (Matlock UK)

[birdguy 3,943]

It is a day we give thanks for what we have Phil.  It celebrates the first Thanksgiving when the Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest in the New World and invited the Indians to feast with them.  It is a national holiday and the traditional meal is turkey.

I recall out Thanksgivings when I was a boy.  My father wasn't a very religious man so he seldom said grace, but before the Thanksgiving meal he would always say, "Be thankful for what we have, not envious for what don't have.."

Noel

 

[philmurfin 73]

Thanks Noel,

May I say that you have a very good way with words.

Please tell me Noel, do most folk remember the day for what it is, or does it just become another holiday? A bit like Christmas is sadly becoming.

My Wife and I both agree that your Father sounds like a lovely man.

I hope you've enjoyed your Thanks Giving!

Phil & Kath

 

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Also a time to feast when food is plenty at the end of the agricultural season, when agriculture was the main industry this was the perfect time to have a holiday. Canada has Thanksgiving first week in October as it is a colder climate and that is closer to the end of its agricultural season, USA is later in November as the season is longer due to a warmer climate.

So you could say it is a type of Harvest Festival that has evolved, and many cultures have a Harvest Festival of some kind, Germans have Octoberfest as a Harvest Festival as well for example, great way to celebrate the end of the harvest season. Just different ways to celebrate when food is plenty around the world

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_harvest_festivals

[philmurfin 73]

Thanks for the information Mathew,

We do have Harvest Festival here in the UK, my Dad always took a wheelbarrow full of things he'd grown to our local church.

I hope you've had an enjoyable day.

Phil

 

[birdguy 3,943]

We are reminded what it's for Phil.  And here in my little city of 50,000 people most of the stores and all but one of the restaurants are closed.  The churches in town pool their resources and provide a Thanksgiving dinner for not only the indigent, but for anyone who doesn't have a family to celebrate with.  Everyone is welcome.

But yes, it's a four day weekend and Black Friday shopping sprees kind of negate the idea of the previous day.

Betty and I had a nice dinner.  I cooked a ham.  Since there are just the two of us most of it will go into the freezer.

It seems that every year the older generations lose a bit of what they cherish and the younger generations get something new that they cherish.  Like a zero-sum game.  Hasn't it always been so?

Noel

 

[Captain Kevin 586]

I worked, that's about it. Nothing too spectacular.

[n4gix 4,947]

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

The churches in town pool their resources and provide a Thanksgiving dinner for not only the indigent, but for anyone who doesn't have a family to celebrate with.  Everyone is welcome.

I've been alone here at home since my brother died in July of 1999. The first year alone I fixed Thanksgiving Dinner as I had done for the previous twenty odd years. Five hours of preparation, thirty lonely and somewhat depressing minutes to eat dinner, followed by four hours of clean up cured me of that habit! By the time Christmas rolled around, I still had plenty of left-overs for Christmas Dinner. Every year since I've found places to share a meal with others.

I checked a few days ago and found no fewer than fifteen places where free Thanksgiving dinners were being offered, ranging from assorted Churches, the Salvation Army, local restaurants, and college fraternities.

Some were served on Tuesday, some on Wednesday and the rest on Thursday. I preferred to wait until today - actual Thanksgiving Day - so I went to Ivy Tech Community College where the Gary Alumnae Chapter of Delta Epsilon Theta were hosting the event. They were a joyful and warmly welcoming group of people. I have a 'handyman' who's currently dirt-poor and living in his RV. I invited him to come along with me but he declined saying that he didn't have anything suitable to wear. The kids at the dinner were kind enough to fix a "to go" dinner for me to deliver to him on my way home this afternoon.

I'm thinking that for Christmas this year I'll fix something to take to one of the local Churches to share with them. Anything to avoid being home alone any longer.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Enjoyed my Thanksgiving today, instead of a traditional dinner I went for a Thanksgiving walk with my best friend, who lives just a few doors down from me.  He's about half my age, like a younger brother to me.  I showed him my two flight sims, Xplane and P3D, which I show to visitors who drop by.  I put my tree up yesterday, still working on it, adding ornaments here and there, nothing too ostentatious.  I like the various gift-giving holidays we have worldwide, they have one in India, can't recall what it is named, that is very nice.  Since I worked in software dev I encountered many people from India, just heard from one of my old colleagues yesterday.  They keep coaxing me to come off disability and work again, but I am happy to wait, enjoying and celebrating the gift my recovery has been since I was in the hospital last month. 

I look back at those hard times as good times, remembering the cute nurses (am I allowed to say that?), and the doctors who were astonished at how quickly I recovered.  I gained that will here, in these forums, the will to talk, and to be dissed sometimes if I get outta line.  I prefer moderated forums to no holds barred places like Twitter and Facebook.  After all, it is a free service to us, we then, in turn, look at the payware reviews and give back to the advertisers who help support this site, a nice little circle of contributing to a unique hobby.

For those abroad who don't understand Thanksgiving, it is less an affront to our buddies across the pond, it is more a celebration of people making friendship.  Although Native Americans were attacked in our history, there was also intermarriage.  I bet if many of us dig deep into our roots we would be astounded at what we would find.  The entire world is a melting pot of sorts, it is unavoidable.  Thanksgiving celebrates that good old campfire, warming the hearts of those who share food and good company.

John Michael

[birdguy 3,943]

Well, Phil, you can see by some of the responses here that Thanksgiving is an important holiday for us and still has some of it's original meaning left.  That's a big plus for considering the state of things today.

Noel

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[philmurfin 73]

12 hours ago, birdguy said:

Well, Phil, you can see by some of the responses here that Thanksgiving is an important holiday for us and still has some of it's original meaning left.  That's a big plus for considering the state of things today.

Noel

.

Excellent! I'm really pleased that I joined in this post.

Thank you

Phil