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| Venice (FL) Beach, November 2025 |
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| Another great pic from Susan Coventry |
MUSINGS ON THANKSGIVING
Although born in Nebraska, from the age of three I grew up in New England, where Thanksgiving is a really important holiday.* I was, in fact, shocked when I moved to Florida and discovered, other than a hymn or two and a passing reference, the Sunday before Thanksgiving was just another Sunday. And then came the Black Friday nonsense. Yes, it existed while I lived in New England, but no one was lining up at store entrances directly after eating Thanksgiving dinner. Or skipping Thanksgiving festivities completely in order to join the Black Friday madness. And no one put up a single Christmas decoration until the day after Thanksgiving.
*On Thanksgiving Sunday the church warden, dressed in full Pilgrim costume, prowled the aisles of the church, holding a long wooden pole (10 feet?) with a double-head on one end: one side, a cluster of feathers (to tickle the noses of those not paying enough attention?), the other, a round knob to tap sleeping congregants on the head. I would imagine the pole was an original, more than 300 years old.
To get back to my comments on Thanksgiving in the 21st century . . .
I could only applaud when, in the last few years, there seemed to be a movement away from Shopping almost totally obscuring the Thanksgiving Holiday. But Holiday decorations? Stores, HOAs, offices, etc., seem to have skipped Fall decorations entirely, going straight to Christmas in early November. If not before.
Hey, guys, have we totally forgotten our forefathers? The church I belonged to in Connecticut celebrated its 325th Anniversary around the time I moved to Florida—forty-five years ago! I.e., it was founded by some of the people who came over on the Mayflower! (Dissenting from the Dissenters.) Yes, I know the Vikings got here first, as well as the ill-fated settlers in Jamestown, but it's the Pilgrims who stayed the course, surviving with the aid of the Native Americans living on the east shore of what is now Massachusetts. That first Thanksgiving was held to celebrate the survival of the Pilgrims (half of whom died that first winter). It is a truly important event in the creation of our country. So, heads up! Do not let it fall by the wayside.
Each year, I am tasked with saying the blessing over our large family Thanksgiving dinner. I used to "wing it," but one year I decided to search the Internet for inspiration. After several years of good but not great blessings, I found one we all liked so much that it is now adopted as the Kone-Reale Thanksgiving Dinner prayer. I am copying it below, just as I found it.)
We Give Thanks to You
Adapted from a blessing by Ethel Faye Grzanich
As we bow our heads to pray, we give thanks to you, God, for this Thanksgiving Day.
We thank you, Father, for our families, friends, and for all the blessings, both big and small, that you pour out on us each day.
We give thanks to you for this food, and for the hands that have prepared it. We ask your blessing upon this meal.that it will nourish our bodies and refresh out souls.
We give thanks to you for this wonderful time together, and for each one present here today.
We ask you, dear Lord, let each one of us feel your love, comfort, and presence in our lives today and every day.
Let us not forget those who cannot be here with us today. We give thanks to you for them, too. We miss our loved ones, Lord, but we are thankful for all the good times that we had with them.
And now, Lord, please bless all those present and let us live lives of honor, responsibility, and kindness to others.
In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
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No Blog Post over the Thanksgiving weekend
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