Welcoming Thanksgiving Different This Year

Can you get any of these correct without hitting Google? (Answers at the bottom of this post, but no sneaking a peek!)  

*When was the very first Thanksgiving feast?

*What was served at this first meal?

*What did the Pilgrims eat with?

*How many turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving today?

*What year was the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Looking Up

Once a year just doesn't seem enough to officially say "Thanks!" for all we receive. Let's hope we do it more often than that! But what if we just can not get up enough energy to do it? Life has given us a blow and we are having a difficult time getting up. 

This year's meal is different. Maybe at someone else's house. Maybe we were not the chief cook and pastry maker this year as we wanted. We have to share the kids with someone else. We have no one to attend dinner with us. We could go on and on if we allowed ourselves to wallow in our discontent. That is not good medicine for us, though. No one says we have to be the life of the party, but we have an obligation to take care of ourselves. If only for our own sanity.

Starting at the Beginning With This Conversation

Dear God, sometimes life gets me down and I find it hard to see things to be thankful for. Open my eyes to see the gifts you’ve given me in my life. I’m going to start by thanking you for loving me enough to come to earth and die so we can live together forever. Amen.  --Wendy van Eyck, Crosswalk Contributor

Now let's start opening some gifts. Begin today and all the way through Christmas, as we think of blessings, list in our journals why we are grateful. Thank you, God, for. . . 

• Never leaving us.
• An invitation to someone else's home.
• Allowing someone else to cook this year.
• Showing us how to be generous with the kids.
• Our health and improved outlook.
• Providing all our needs in the moment.
• Support of friends and family.  
• Peace and joy that grows stronger every day.
• Protection from ourselves and others.
• The gift of abundance in all things.
• Unanswered prayer when You knew what was best for us.
• Tears that keep my heart from becoming hardened.
• Your forgiveness and mercy.
• Salvation, to spend eternity with You forever.

We Have a Caregiver of Our Own

There are so, so many more ways to give thanks. Find some very personal ones and thank God for being there to take care of it all. Even what appears negative or devastating at the time are hidden blessings! Remember, all good things come from Him today and every day.  

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 

And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 2 Corinthians 9:8

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Answers to trivia:
1. Autumn of 1621

2. No turkey was served at the very first Thanksgiving feast. But deer, duck, geese, oyster, eel and fish were.

3. Spoons and knives used, but not forks as they were not invented yet! 

4. 46 million turkeys are eaten every Thanksgiving. Female turkeys (hens) do not gobble. Only males do.

5. 1924 - first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.