Thanksgiving Around Here

I usually feel lonely at Thanksgiving time. It's the one holiday it seems I need to be with my family - not even Christmas so much. But even other holidays seem kind of empty to where I am asking myself, "Did we celebrate it enough?" I think it's the part of me that searches for meaning in everything I do. And I'm especially uncomfortable with holidays that, on the surface, are about food; because holidays exist for a reason, nothing is about food. And you don't need a special day on the calendar to make a certain meal, or to enjoy your food!

But ... this month has been different. I feel a lot of Thanksgiving around here. I feel much more Thanksgiving than I have in a long time. Maybe this is due to a number of reasons, including my own maturing and not needing that family extension anymore, or simply because my kids are old enough now to where we are our own family with our own budding traditions. But also it feels like Thanksgiving around here because we have been talking about it for weeks... the pilgrims, the blessings of America, etc.

I had this idea a couple months ago to time my homeschool history lessons with certain holidays. So we did a bunch of Columbus activities last month, and now we are on to the pilgrims, which actually works out perfectly. Now my six year old can tell you all about separatists, strangers, Squanto, maize and fish, and the overall *point* to the whole story (oh, wait there is a point? I didn't learn THAT in school....) which is the sacrifices the pilgrims made and the risks they took (yes, it was ILLEGAL to emigrate... they had to sneak out!) because they felt moved to escape tyranical reign and seek their own religious freedom.

We have also been studying Moses and the Exodus story these past couple weeks. - And during one conversation it just hit me suddenly: the pilgrims and the Isrealites have the same story!! They both had to escape to seek their freedom, seeking to honor their own God, not their oppresor's, headed toward a Promised Land; and they both had hardships galore along the way, including wandering around in the wilderness unable to even feed themselves. God fed the Israelites, and He also fed the Pilgrims (via the kind Native Americans) until finally they became self-sufficient. Now, how cool is that?

In honoring the true roots of the holiday, I said we should eat corn and fish for thanksgiving but of course that idea got nixed. (I also say we should be eating middle east grub at Christmastime but that has yet to happen....)