A Thanksgiving message to Milam County

This week is one of the most anticipated holidays on the American Calendar – Thanksgiving. Celebrated throughout the world, mostly as a day to rejoice in the harvest and reflect on the blessing of the preceding year, it’s a time to give thanks for all we have and those we share our lives with. It’s also a time to share our blessings with those around us who struggle.

I think of all the Thanksgivings in my past, the food, the festivities, the parades, the football games (both on TV and in the front yard), and I think of all the family and friends we are or have been surrounded by. Some of those folks are gone and we miss them, but I am also thankful that I had the time I did with them and have those memories to cherish. I know many will be missing those who have passed this year, I pray that they can celebrate the lives of their loved ones and those special times they cherish from the past. 

Ceremonies and celebrations of thanks and blessings at the end of the harvest season are and have been common throughout the history of the world. English tradition puts the formal celebrations around the time of the Protestant Reformation during the reign of King Henry VIII. In America, the first documented Thanksgiving was held in 1619, in what is now Virginia, by thirty-eight settlers from the ship Margaret as a day of thanks for their arrival in the New World.

The traditional Thanksgivings we think of from grade school first occurred in the 1620’s as the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags along with the Patuxent tribes celebrated with the new settlers. For most of the history of America, Thanksgiving has been held on various dates towards the end of the harvest season most set by the various state legislatures. 

In 1939, in an effort to boost the economy during the depression, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a Presidential Proclamation changing the holiday to the last Thursday in November. In 1941, President Roosevelt went on the sign a Joint Resolution of Congress to officially set the date of Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November, and that is how we got the current Thanksgiving day set.

Regardless of the date, many times we forget what Thanksgiving is about. It’s a time to reflect on this preceding year and to give thanks for all the blessings we have from God. It’s a time to love our families and friends to ensure they know how important they are to us. And while we all have our day-to-day challenges, and for some of us it may feel like there is nothing to be thankful for, there is. Most importantly, Thanksgiving is a time to help those around us and to share our blessings with others who are less fortunate.

The Nurse and I will take the time to give thanks both in our home, in our Milam County Community, and in our church; and we would hope everyone will have the opportunity do the same and to help someone else do so as well. We also hope that we can all take this spirit of Thanksgiving and work it into our lives on an everyday basis. Wouldn’t that be wonderful.

From the Nurse and I, God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving Milam County.