After a devastating winter, the first western settlers on the American continent, the Pilgrims, had lost 46 of their original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But, the harvest the next summer was a bountiful one and the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast – including 91 Native American Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year.

George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, although some people scoffed at the idea. It was a magazine editor whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

We view our Thanksgiving tradition as a family affair today. A day when family members come together to share old memories, catch up on each other’s daily lives, and for a feast, of course.

My only Thanksgiving not spent at home was a few years ago when I agreed to help at a basketball tournament in Las Vegas. While all the other visitors to this exciting city were busy finding their Thanksgiving feast that day, I was working long hours with very little time to even think about eating.

During a break between games on that Thanksgiving day I drifted into the dining area to see if I could find some morsel of nourishment. I saw a Las Vegas native who was also working at the tournament sharing a Thanksgiving meal with his family that had been cooked by his wife at their home and brought to the basketball gym’s dining area.

His family was gathered around a large table and they had just begun sharing their meal together when I wandered by their table. Knowing that I was from out of town and alone on this day, the gentleman’s entire family insisted that I share their meal with them. It was truly a day of giving thanks, just not with my family. I was giving thanks with a family I didn’t know, but with whom I shared a national tradition.

There was turkey, dressing, potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Before being invited to join this beautiful family, I was looking forward to a candy bar from a vending machine. But because of our nation’s wonderful Thanksgiving tradition, I feasted with virtual strangers and enjoyed their family sharing their old memories and catching up on their daily lives.

In his Thanksgiving Proclamation, President Lincoln wrote ... “The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God ... I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving ...”

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