Having a Thankful Heart at Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is gathering time: a gathering of family members, old time memories, traditional foods, and lots of thanksgiving. Without a simple plan tailored to what can be comfortably carried out and a thankful heart that allows for a few mishaps and a hurt feeling here and there, the feast can go awry.
One good way the host can prepare for a good time is to ask the guest to participate in the arrangements. Let the dinner be everyone's responsibility and assign each with a duty as well as to bring their favorite dish. Know what these are so there will not be too much of this and not enough of that.
Once the guest list is settled upon and the food arrangements are made, decide how simple or how elaborate your decorations are to be. If you truly want to be aligned back with the first Thanksgiving with the pilgrims then your choice of decorations need be limited to items that are easily gathered and are inexpensive and will take little time.
An example of what I imagine that first thanksgiving to be:
A long wooden table with benches on either sides and a large cooking pot on a makeshift fireplace outside under an open sky sets the scene. The fire is blazing underneath and several feet away are a plentiful stack of firewood. Makeshift benches are scattered around and people with colorful but well worn clothing is gathering in from all directions. The big people, Native Americans and colonists, are busy preparing food, and the little people are playing games outside of the danger of fire zone, are playing ring around the roses, tag and other games.
Good sport is being had by the children who are chasing a lone chicken that somehow managed to get loose from its confinement. It is good sport for the children but frightening for the poor chicken. On the table are several metal serving dishes and a few utensils. There are dishpan sized serving bowls that will hold the turkey and the vegetables and the squash and whatever else is being cooked over the open fire.
These people are most thankful for the recent harvest they have had and they owe it all to their Creator and to the Native Americans who taught them how to garden and how to survive in these harsh surroundings. To give thanks to both is the reason of this important gathering. To be in this spirit of thanksgiving at this time of year, all any of us need do is to bring to the table a thankful heart and an empty stomach.
