Thanksgiving

The 19th Century Thanksgiving

The 19th century Thanksgiving is much like the Christmas celebrated in the 19th century: it is very misunderstood. While most know that Thanksgiving was officially declared a national holiday during the later half of the 19th century they do not know how much Thanksgiving was celebrated before it became an official “day” on the national calendar. Thanksgiving long before the 19th century in America was a time-honor family tradition. In …

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Virtual Thanksgiving
Virtual Thanksgiving
Christmas NewsChristmas TrendsThanksgiving

The Virtual Thanksgiving

The Virtual Thanksgiving is nothing new. We have been doing it for years. What makes it different now is that many, many people will have to do it due to restrictions on family gatherings. Without getting into the politics the fact that Thanksgiving has to go virtual is not the end of the world. In fact, it can be a fun event that kicks off a whole new level of …

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Shop Early for Thanksgiving
Shop Early for Thanksgiving
Christmas NewsThanksgiving

Shop Early for Thanksgiving

You will need to shop early for Thanksgiving this year. Word got out fast about early Christmas shopping but few know of the problems coming in shopping for Thanksgiving. Significant food shortages on traditional Thanksgiving items are already showing with Thanksgiving now about a month away. Major food distributors in the United States are scrambling to meet the anticipated needs. Some are now saying that items such as boxed stuffing, …

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Thanksgiving 2020
Thanksgiving 2020
Christmas NewsThanksgiving

Families Carefully Planning Thanksgiving 2020

Thanksgiving 2020 is going to happen. The annual holidays survey commissioned by MyMerryChristmas.com shows that Thanksgiving has been on the mind of a lot of people nearly all year – and they are not going to skip it. 77 percent of people are expecting a slightly bigger family gathering and a whopping 84% say Covid will not be a factor in celebrating Thanksgiving. ~ Careful with Covid ~ However, that …

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Thanksgiving

Inconvenient Facts About Thanksgiving

Every year now we seem to find new ways to corrupt Thanksgiving. The facts about Thanksgiving have always been kind of inconvenient. It’s true history, meaning and origin has somehow created a state of endless debates. There are debates about stores open on Thanksgiving, debates about how Thanksgiving is taught wrong in schools, debates about debating politics at the Thanksgiving dinner table and now even a debate about if we …

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Problematic Thanksgiving
Problematic Thanksgiving
Christmas NewsThanksgiving

Thanksgiving? Not a Problem

The media is making a firestorm out of a new holiday outrage some are calling The War on Thanksgiving. Silly as it all seems the rhetoric of politics never has a down season. There are several polarizing modern talking points about Thanksgiving this year: • PETA doesn’t want you eating animals for Thanksgiving…because they are sexually assaulted. • Your carbon footprint matters. The food of Thanksgiving isn’t the problem. Travel …

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How Thanksgiving Became Thanksgiving
How Thanksgiving Became Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving

How Thanksgiving Became Thanksgiving

Like Christmas, the origins of Thanksgiving are hotly debated. Like Christmas, we can thank stories of Thanksgiving passed down through generations by word of mouth, in letters and documents, period media reports, and great literary works for the making of all that we celebrate of the holiday today. Historians these days love to deconstruct “the facts” surrounding Thanksgiving. They tell us we are wrong to think of it as we …

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Find Christmas
Find Christmas
Christmas NewsChristmas OpinionThanksgiving

Finding Christmas in Thanksgiving

A recent survey revealed sharp divisions in when the celebration of Christmas begins. Nearly a third said Christmas begins right after Halloween, a third said Christmas begins right after Thanksgiving and for another third the celebration of Christmas is something done every day. In recent years many have insisted that Christmas so overpowers the calendar that holidays such as Thanksgiving and Veteran’s Day are entirely forgotten. Those making the argument …

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Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Christmas FeaturesThanksgiving

Over the River and Through the Wood

“Over the River and through the wood” is a phrase endeared to many that evokes the memory of Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings. Many know it as a poem first, many more know it as a Christmas song. Christmas was never it’s original intention. It was always, from its title forward, meant to be a tribute to Thanksgiving. It was written by an extraordinary woman named Lydia Maria Child in 1844 …

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Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Christmas FeaturesChristmas FoodsThanksgiving

Pumpkin Pie Poetry

The Thanksgiving of old America included a serious reverence the people of the 18th and 19th centuries had for pumpkin pie. Said the editor of the Philadelphia Ledger in 1837 “that he should like to be thrown into a pumpkin pie as large as Lake Superior, only deeper, and obliged it eat his way out.” Some historians and foodies would have you to believe that pumpkin was a staple of …

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Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Christmas MusicSacred ChristmasThanksgiving

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing has become for many an anthem of Thanksgiving — as close to a Thanksgiving carol as there can be. The song was written in the mid-18th century by a 22-year old theology student. His name was Robert Robinson. As a youth, Robinson was a bit of a wild child, having lost his father when he was just 5 years old. As he entered his …

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Christmas FeaturesThanksgiving

The Thanksgiving History You Never Hear

Modern media is flooded each Thanksgiving with tales of the myths and distortions of America’s most widely celebrated holiday. That is the most amazing thing about Thanksgiving. It is full of ironies and falsehoods and ignored facts. On one extreme you have those who cling to the Charlie Brown version of Thanksgiving. This is what most of us were taught in grade school – that the pilgrims walked off the …

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Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Christmas PastHoliday HumorThanksgiving

Josiah, His Turkeys and His Sweetheart

(Editor’s Note: This Thanksgiving story was published sometime in the early 19th century. Like A Visit from St. Nicholas it was published as a tradition year after year in many newspapers. We found it in the Boston Traveler from 1836, though we noted it dating back as far as 1824 in another newspaper. This is a delightful look an old American Thanksgiving traditions – as well as a great story …

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Thanksgiving Movies
Thanksgiving Movies
Christmas MoviesThanksgiving

Five Must See Movies Over Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving represents a lot of traditions in American culture. Some enjoy the parade, others get into the football and some are all about the food. For many, it is a simple day of being together and playing games. Thanksgiving, more than any other holiday, really is a true holiday. Everything stops for something different. Thanksgiving is also traditionally a time set aside to kick off the Christmas season. Many put …

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Christmas FeaturesChristmas HistoryChristmas NewsThanksgiving

Ancient Connections of Thanksgiving and Christmas

Here is some fodder for your Thanksgiving day discussions around the turkey — which is the more sacred holiday in America, Thanksgiving or Christmas? Check your learning of history at the door. This history of both holidays goes back further than you know — and both are related to each other in significant ways. Watch this video: Christmas, while constantly under a cloud in regular debates of what is politically …

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