Giving thanks... a few days late!

I think Thanksgiving is just about the best holiday ever. What other holiday says, "You know what? Even though life can be pretty rough sometimes, we are still dang lucky. Why doesn't everybody take the day off of work and go eat a huge meal with their families and loved ones? And after they're done eating they can all sit back and think about how thankful they are for all of the incredible blessings in our lives."

Yep, pretty sure no other holiday says that.

Here's an interesting tidbit of information for you. Thanksgiving was officially declared a holiday in 1863 by President Lincoln.  In the midst of the United States Civil War, amid death and heartache and misery, Old Abe said, "You know what?  We need to be grateful.  We're making this official." 

Okay, okay, so I paraphrased that.  What he actually said was:

"In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed... They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy... I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States...to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

(If you want to read the whole thing in a bigger, more readable font, go here.  Yes, I am linking you to Wikipedia's article on Thanksgiving.  That's how awesome I am.)

But the point is THIS.  Both Lincoln and the pilgrims who first celebrated Thanksgiving back in 1621 had this in common- they realized that no matter how much is going wrong in life, there is still much to be grateful for.  There is war, there is starvation, there is poverty, there is death, yes.  There will always be those things.  But there is also a God who loves us and who showers us, yes, I said showers us, with blessings.  Sometimes we just have to step back from the hussle and bussle and the crazy chaos of our lives and realize that no matter how you look at it, we are blessed.

And that's why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

(Well, that and I also have a great love for banana cream pie, candied yams, watching boys play football, strange conversations with relatives, and random family dance parties to the glee soundtrack... all of which were part of my Thanksgiving.)

P.S.  This post may have been a little too serious for some.  I understand it's not along the lines of the funny and frivolous things I normally post about.  I promise you that tomorrow I will be back to my trivial, nonsensical, un-profound postings. 

Yes, I will be posting about Black Friday.