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You are here: Home / Archives for thanksgiving holiday

Finding Thanksgiving Gratitude

November 16, 2016 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

According to a Harris Poll conducted a few years back about our top ten holidays, Christmas takes the prize among most Americans.

happy-thanksgiving

Runner up went to Thanksgiving (my favorite), followed by All Hallow’s Eve (known more traditionally as “Halloween”) closing out the top three.

I won’t leave you hanging. Independence day was fourth, Easter was next and then three non-religious holidays lined up for sixth, seventh, and eighth: New Year’s, Memorial Day, and Labor Day. “My Birthday” came in at ninth. (I didn’t know that was a holiday, but what the heck, another year alive is worth celebrating.) Tied for tenth were Valentine’s Day and Hanukah, which bears the distinction of being the only non-Christian religious holiday to make the list. (You can take a live version of the poll here.)

And, as long as we’re on the subject of Thanksgiving, as I wrote about several years ago, the most common Thanksgiving holiday traditions (per About.com) are:

  • Giving Thanks
  • Thanksgiving Day Parade
  • Football
  • Breaking the wishbone
  • Turkey and Trimmings

A few interesting factoids about our earlier Thanksgivings include that the reason a turkey has come to be the ceremonial meal is actually a fluke of the evolution of our language. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gratitude, Newspaper Column Tagged With: attitude, gratitude, holiday traditions, holidays, quality of life, thankfulness, thanksgiving, thanksgiving holiday

Giving thanks in Confusing Times

November 19, 2014 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

Consider this column a holiday public service.

family reunion

Consider it an aide memoire of what really matters. Consider it anything you wish. However, I wanted to take these moments, particularly at this time of year, to remind us — me — of some reasons to offer up thanks. After all, despite what sometimes passes as common belief, Thanksgiving is not a caloric competition.

With beheadings and renewed violence in the Middle East, an exaggerated Ebola scare; a frightening escalation of global warming; vitriolic hyperbolic, unproductive, childlike exchanges among “our leaders” about everything from affordable healthcare to immigration; a still-shaky standard of living for far too many; gridlock in Government, and — oh yeah — the worst drought in centuries here in California, we’re having quite some time of it all.

In times such as we find ourselves, it is vital to recall the words of Francois de La Rochefoucauld,

“Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.”

The future will be better; be assured. Yet, while we are still chopping though the rough seas of today, some reminders might be in order.

Nonetheless, what really matters is that many of us will be surrounded by family and friends, people who support and guide us.

When we are off course, they redirect us. When we are on track, they congratulate us. When illness ravages our body and beats our spirit, they, like angels, sit by our side and heal us. When we are overwhelmed, they hold us near. When infused with joy, they join us in song. What a blessing, in the midst of seas of swirling, chaotic, pandemonium, to find islands of protection where we can have a rest and reclaim our souls. To say to them, “Thank you,” is woefully, pitifully, inadequate. Yet, it can do no harm.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: family, Gratitude, Happiness, Newspaper Column, Relationships, Weight Loss Tagged With: family, family and friends, giving thanks, grateful, gratitude, keeping things in perspective, putting it in perspective, thanksgiving, thanksgiving holiday

How Thanksgiving Traditions Began

November 22, 2010 by Scott "Q" Marcus

The most common Thanksgiving holiday traditions are:

  • Giving Thanks
  • Thanksgiving Day Parade
  • Football
  • Breaking the wishbone
  • Turkey and Trimming

I am unclear how the genealogy section of About.com determined this; yet intuitively it appears correct. Ever curious (and always looking for content for my column), I wondered how these came to be; so I did some research. I share.

According to historians, the Pilgrims never observed an annual Thanksgiving banquet in autumn. In the year 1621, they did celebrate a feast following their first harvest, but this ceremony was never repeated. (Oddly, most devoutly religious pilgrims of that time did observe a day of thanksgiving, but they did so by fasting.) George Washington was the first president to declare the holiday, in 1789.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, family, Habits, Holidays, Misc, Traditions Tagged With: christmas shopping, franklin d roosevelt, giving thanks, holiday traditions, holidays, national holiday, sarah j hale, thankfulness, thanksgiving, thanksgiving day parade, thanksgiving holiday, thanksgiving proclamation

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