Making Thanksgiving More Meaningful

Recently I read Thanksgiving:  A Time to Remember by Barbara Rainey, published in 2003.  I am so glad to have come across this book, courtesy of my mother who shared it with me.  The purpose of this book is to share the story of the Pilgrims and the miracles that allowed them to survive and eventually thrive in this new land.  Included in the book is the story of the Pilgrims to be read aloud to children.  I hope to do that in the days leading up to Thanksgiving--maybe after dinner for a few minutes on our less-frantic nights.  I started last night after dinner.  My children weren't sure if this was some new punishment or what, but the first chapter only took 8 minutes so I don't think it was too painful!  It should take less than an hour total to read the story aloud.  Also included with the book is a CD of Thanksgiving songs and music, which I haven't listened to yet, but hope to.

The author says, "I was determined that my children would hear the stories of the courageous men, women, and children who lived honorably and, through faith in God, made enormous sacrifices to secure freedom for us all...For the Rainey family Thanksgiving was not going to be just eating, hours of TV, football, naps, and leftover turkey sandwiches--followed by a stress-filled Friday of frantic Christmas shopping at the mall."  Amen to that!  I have wanted to make Thanksgiving more meaningful but haven't really known how.

The author does a good job of including the hardships the Pilgrims overcame in addition to the miracles that allowed them to survive.  Something I didn't appreciate before is that the Pilgrims had to overcome quite a bit of hostility from the Indians.  Probably my favorite miracle is the story of the Pilgrims saving their friend and a tribal chief, Massasoit, from near death in 1623 with some "medicines" and broth and rest (his tribe was making an incredible racket because they thought he was already dead.)  He made a miraculous recovery and revealed to the Pilgrims that 8 tribes of Indians had plotted together to kill all the English, which were by now two colonies.  He had been asked to join in the attack by other chiefs but had refused.  He gave them some advice on how to deal with this threat and the Pilgrims were able to stop the attack.

In addition to reading this story, the author also puts 5 kernels of corn on each plate, which reminds them of how much food the Pilgrims had to eat every day at one point. Lack of food was another huge problem for them. She also gives each member of her family a card or nice paper to write 5 blessings they are thankful for.  This also seems like a great idea.

With all the friends and relatives that come to our house for Thanksgiving dinner, I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to incorporate this into our family.  Perhaps we will do this in the morning before all the guests arrive.  But I'm looking forward to making a better attempt at having a more meaningful Thanksgiving this year.