With just six days until Thanksgiving, you may already have your turkey in the freezer, calculating just how long it needs to take up space in the fridge to thaw in time for Thursday’s cooking. If, like me, you make lists, you already have plans for the dressing, the sides and the desserts. Some treats may have already been baked and frozen. We’ve tallied up heaps of household supplies. This and Christmas make up two of our biggest culinary productions of the year. But we’re each just talking abut one household.
The U. S. Census counts all family units and the stats for last year give pause to those of us who think 24 pounds is a gigantic number for a bird. Last year there were 271 million turkeys raised in our country. Holiday cranberry production reached 689 million pounds and 1.8 billion pounds of sweet potatoes were harvested. Pumpkins reached 1.1 billion pounds and the ever-popular green beans came in with 769,760 tons! There are 116 million households across the nation which are potential gathering places for this gala.
That first Thanksgiving had its own crowded table. It was 378 years ago this autumn that the surviving 53 Pilgrims celebrated their successful harvest in Plymouth, Massachusetts, along with more than 90 Indians, starting our yearly tradition. It didn’t become a national holiday until 1863, so proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln, who designated the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving. Congress passed a law in 1941, during Franklin Roosevelt’s term, making the fourth Thursday the official Day of Thanks. This was a part of that president’s economic stimulus package, encouraging early holiday shopping.
Thanksgiving culminates a month of diverse observances. According to the Williamsburg (Va.) magazine, the website www.brownielocks.com lists some quirky commemorations that happen during November. It’s the month to recognize National Inspirational Role Models, National Life Writing, Pomegranates and Sweet Potato Awareness. Special weeks include those for World Communication, World Kindness, National Games and Puzzles, National Family, and Better Conservation.
The day after Thanksgiving is the National Day of Listening in a month that began with All Saints Day and saw the end of Daylight Savings Time. Other “day” observances include those for Sadie Hawkins, Area Codes, Veterans, I Love to Write and Homemade Bread. I hope you didn’t get to celebrate yesterday as it was Have a Bad Day Day. To recover, you can exercise your creativity tomorrow for Name Your PC Day.
Our Pilgrim Fathers kept it simple. They gathered in gratitude to God for their food harvest. Four centuries later we do essentially the same thing, thankful for our own crop of blessings. In 2009 Jim and I will be the elders at our dining table of 13. The youngest, seven decades behind us, will reign in a high chair. There will be five other grands in attendance. Later that day we’ll join another half dozen of our clan, not only for homemade Thanksgiving pies but for a birthday cake featuring three sets of candles, for grandsons aged one, nine and 16.
No matter what other numbers are cited to symbolize this month, I concentrate on but one seasonal icon. It’s just a cup. And mine most certainly – and happily – runneth over!