Thanksgiving Learning and Fun

We all know about the first Thanksgiving in 1621 and how the Native Americans and the Pilgrims shared a feast. But do you know how it actually became a national holiday?

After 1621, future Thanksgiving celebrations occurred at various times throughout the year. George Washington declared a feast of Thanksgiving in 1789, and presidents issued similar yearly proclamations after that. During the Civil War, poet Sarah Hale started a campaign to celebrate the holiday on the same day throughout the country.

President Abraham Lincoln saw it as a way to unite the country, and in 1863 he proclaimed a national Thanksgiving celebration on the last Thursday in November. It was changed from the last Thursday to the third Thursday by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 as a way to lengthen the Christmas shopping holiday. In 1941, Roosevelt finally changed the date to the fourth Thursday in November, proclaiming it a Federal holiday in 1941.

I thought that was pretty interesting. I did not know it had been changed that many times. Throughout the month our family is going to be talking about what we are thankful for and learning more about the Thanksgiving holiday. We're making a trip to the library in the next few days and will be picking up some books related to the holiday and the history of it.

There are so many resources and ideas on the web for cute crafts and activities. I thought I'd share some that I found:

*If you're looking for some cute coloring pages, clip art, and other activities for you children to keep them busy on afternoons after school check out this link:
http://holidays.kaboose.com/thanks-color.html
There are lots of cute printables.

*The Family Fun website always has lots of cute things too. I especially liked these little pilgrim place cards:
http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/famf117tabletop/famf117tabletop6.html

*I also thought this idea for "Harvest Blessing Snack Mix" was very cute. The link also has a free printable tag to include with it if you like:
http://familycrafts.about.com/od/thanksrecipes/a/thxblessmix.htm

*Ever wonder if your ancestors came over on the Mayflower? Take a look at this list and see if you can find any familiar names:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_passengers_on_the_Mayflower

Thanksgiving is one of those Holiday's that just quietly creep up on us.

What is one of your favorite things to do for the Thanksgiving Holiday?

Looking ahead at this month

Now that the elections are finally over, I guess it's time to move on and hope for the best.

I'm looking forward to the fun activities this month will bring.

*This weekend my mother and I will have our girls day at the Custer's Christmas Craft Show. I love this time of year when you can feel the holidays in the air and start doing some Christmas shopping. Last year at Custer's I found the perfect little black table to go with my shelf I had bought there the year before. I enjoy walking around and smelling all of the good smells while we get our wheels turning for Christmas crafts and ideas.

*Next Friday Riley will be getting surgery on his ankle. I'm not looking forward to that necessarily because he will be needing a lot of help, but I am glad he's having it done and that hopefully it will heal well and he can regain his strength and dexterity in that foot. His ankle has really bothered him for the last two years or more since he first injured it and since part of the bone is dead (which I didn't even know could happen) the surgery is a light at the end of the tunnel hopefully. We are hoping this will be a good time to get it done since things slow down for him at work in the winter, and soccer doesn't start until the end of February.

*The weekend after that Twilight opens in theaters and me and my gimp husband will be going to see it. Riley read the books, and although he didn't really care for the mushy romantic parts, he liked the vampire and wolf characters. So we're both pretty stoked to go see it. I'm really hoping that Hollywood has not turned it into a typical teen/slasher romance.

*The week after that is Thanksgiving which is one of my favorite holidays. I love the food, the smells, and the fact that it is pretty much a stress free holiday (besides cooking the feast). My mom makes a delicious Thanksgiving dinner and I try to pick up all of her great cooking methods as I've helped her the last few years. I might even love the leftovers as much as the actual meal! Nothing compares to being in a warm cozy house while a turkey is roasting in the oven and pumpkin pies are cooling on the counter. Heaven!

*I've never been much of a fan of the day after Thanksgiving sales, but this year I just might be taking advantage of some of them. I would love to get my Christmas shopping done by December so I can just enjoy the Christmas holiday without enduring the shopping purgatory that most stores become that time of year. So maybe it will be kind of fun to join the throng of crazy shoppers on Black Friday. We are simplifying our Christmas gifts this year which should make shopping easier as well.

This month is the perfect time to look back and think about all that I have to be thankful for.

Did you remember to mail in your ballots?! Today's the big day. I don't know about you, but at this point I just want to find out who won and move on. That is sad to say I know, but I can't stand to be bombarded with any more political propaganda and polls. I'm tired of the fist bumps, the lipstick jokes, and the pandering. I can honestly say that I voted for the candidate that I truly felt best represented my values and ideals. Is it also sad to say I don't feel like I can trust the election process 100%?

No matter what happens we must be steadfast and immovable.

Pictures

I know you've all been dying to see our Halloween pictures right? (pun intended, you'll see why)


Without further ado, here we are in our spooky Halloween gory, I mean glory:

So what do you think? Would we get your vote for Homecoming King and Queen? We looked so scary, I think we even freaked ourselves out a bit. I had so much fun doing our creepy makeup, it really is amazing what you can do. I think this picture has some serious Christmas card potential, don't you? We had a ghoulishly good time.

Here are some more pictures I took at the party:

Our wonderful hosts Tracy and Edna Turnblad from Hairspray

John McCain and Sarah Palin stopped by for some last minute campaigning

Super-star tennis player Bjorn Borg and his tennis cutie

It was a really fun night and I will never look at fake blood and flesh the same way again. Hope everyone had a spook-tacular Halloween! Anyone want some candy?

Now - on to Thanksgiving.