Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving is around the corner. I’m disappointed in our local stores. They went from Halloween to Christmas in their displays and what we can purchase. I remember when Thanksgiving was a big celebration and I could get wonderful decorations. In the past, I’ve sent out Thanksgiving cards to family. I didn’t see any to purchase. This makes me sad.

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all the Lord has done for us. We should do this every day, but we have a special day set aside in our country to do this. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.

In our family, we gather together in one of our homes. We arrive in the mid-morning and stay late into the night. We feast as much as we can and thank the Lord for His bounty. Our morning is filled with snacks and our big meal is in the middle of the afternoon.

A tradition my son started was to have everyone in the family share what they are thankful for. This tradition started the year his dad and daughter passed away. That Thanksgiving was a very tearful time. We all said we were thankful for different things, with every person acutely aware of the missing loved ones. We were somber and sad, yet thankful to our Lord for His love, mercy, provisions, and especially His salvation.

I love pumpkin pie. It is my favorite. My birthday is near Thanksgiving and sometimes falls on that day. Ever since I was a child I had pumpkin pie for my birthday. I keep up the tradition. I normally make my own because I’m picky as to the flavor and I make my own crust. My daughters have learned how to make it the way I love and sometimes I get one made by their hands. The pie one of them made becomes even more special and tastes heavenly.

After our huge meal, there are at least three different deserts to taste and we have coffee. Football is on the television and table games will be brought out. If the weather is nice here in Colorado, a game of football will be played or at least watched by young and old at sometime during the day. Basically it’s a day for family, but we don’t forget to thank our Lord.

What do you do to celebrate Thanksgiving? If you live in another country, you may not celebrate. I hope you still take time to thank the Lord for all His blessings He pours down upon us. There are many blessings we don’t even recognize. We wake up, we breathe—we are alive. There are so many blessings, we could never count them all.

Take a moment to thank the Lord.

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Psalm 16:8 Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! If you haven’t memorized this verse, please do so. 

Verses in NKJV unless otherwise stated
  
Other Thanksgiving and being thankful posts: Thankfulness   Thankfulness 2