There is more to Thanksgiving than travel, food, parades, and football. It's about saying thank-you, a custom that has all but disappeared from society during the rest of the year. Whether you set the date of the first Thanksgiving as 1621 at Plimouth as many traditions hold, or earlier in 1619 at Berkeley Plantation in Virginia, the intent was the same - take time to be thankful for what you have.
Here is a list from the Pilgrim Hall Museum of proclamations various presidents declaring a national day of thanks. As you can see, the first proclamation was in 1789 from George Washington. You can also see that there was a gap of nearly 50 years spanning from 1816 to 1861 when there was no presidential proclamation of thanksgiving. Abraham Lincoln ended the gap in 1862 with his Thanksgiving proclamation.
Of course, there is a lot more history surrounding Thanksgiving than I can fit in this blog. If you're interested in learning more about the history of the U.S. Thanksgiving, check out these sites:
Home school moms, researching the history of Thanksgiving could make a great school project.
Work-at-home moms can also honor the day by remembering what why they are thankful. My own list starts with the following:
- My faith
- My freedom
- My family
- My option to work from home
Leave a comment and let us know.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons image of The First Thanksgiving, a painting by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris.
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