Thanksgiving History Lesson

Disclaimer: The following post is hyperlink happy and filled with lots of FIRSTS!

Why is Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday? How does Black Friday exist on a day after giving thanks for what we have? Please allow me to offer a little history lesson. (There are going to be a lot of links to Archives stuff) :D

Let me start with destroying the image we all grew up with.

• First- Buckled hats did not come around until the 18th century. Pilgrims (which is a general term like 'founders', so "puritans" would be more accurate) did not wear them. 
• The Native Americans were not in loincloths. Have you seen the weather in the north east right now? Yeah. 
• Forks had not been invented yet. They had knives and spoons. 
• There was no pop corn. 
• No turkey. They had goose, maybe swan or passenger pigeons. 
• They did not have pumpkin pie. They had pumpkin, but no pie.  

The images we grew up with came from Sarah Josepha Hale of New Hampshire (the same who wrote Mary Had A Little Lamb). She was the editor of a local magazine who campaigned for 17 years (and letters to 5 presidents) to have a nationally recognized Thanksgiving. The last, Lincoln, made it an official national holiday in 1863. (Did Lincoln declare a day of thanks because of a letter??? I don't know.)

Now that we're reeling from the image of turkey and pumpkin pie being stripped from our childhood, here are a few fun facts, to help you recover.

• The first Thanksgiving football game was Yale vs. Princeton in 1876. When the NFL came around in 1920 there were six games played on Thanksgiving Day. 
• The first parade was Philadelphia's Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1920. 
• Macy's parade came in 1924 with no balloons, but elephants, camels and lions from the Central Park Zoo. 
• The first balloon was in 1927, Felix the Cat. The balloons were not crazy huge either. How do I know? Well, they let the balloons go at the end of the parade so they'd float around for a while.

Also, the history of the cranberry sauce that we all love from this holiday has a fascinating history too, check it out from the Smithsonian here.


So Thanksgiving. The only account we have is from Edward Winslow (of the Mayflower) written in 1621. The letter was lost for 200 years and found in the 1800s by a Boston publisher, Alexander Young. He published it in 1841 (which I assume is where Sarah read it). The first Thanksgiving, they were miserable, but they were thankful. Of the 152 who made the trip to the New World, 53 remained. The weather had been awful, disease, malnutrition. It was a disaster, but the little group of 53 gathered to give thanks and... fasted! They celebrated having family, their health, and the freedom from tyranny and freedom to worship God that made the trip worth it. The Indians provided most of the "Thanksgiving feast".


It's a fascinating story, but how did it become the crazy holiday it is now?

Washington gave a Thanksgiving Proclamation October 3 1789. (Check out the PDF version under the picture to read it!) But is was not a national holiday. After Gettysburg, Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving and we would have one every year on the fourth Thursday of November. So, this year Thanksgiving is really really late. Why?

Here are some presidential declarations for the holiday. (Every president said something about giving thanks, but every President after Lincoln gave one every year, but to understand where Black Friday came from, the following were selected. I completely encourage reading them all. It's fascinating to see the ties to the events going on at the time and see the thanks they give God and the comfort offered to the people for better times ahead. These are only a part of the proclamation given.)

• First, Teddy Roosevelt, 1901- 

"I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, do hereby designate as a day of general Thanksgiving Thursday, the 28th of this present November, and I recommend that throughout the land people cease from their wanted occupations.  Several of homes and places of worship we should reverently thank the giver of all good for the countless blessings in our national life."

This was the FIRST time a President said it was a day off of work. It was unusual. Most people worked Thanksgiving and Christmas (yes, Scrooge was normal). It was thought of as crass to take the holiday off.

• Then, Woodrow Wilson, 1917-

"I, Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States of America do hereby designate Thursday, the 27th of November as a day of Thanksgiving and prayer and invite the people throughout the land to cease from their wanted occupations."

• Then came the depression. Herbert Hoover, 1931-  

"I therefore, Herbert Hoover, president of the United States, do hereby designate Thursday, November 26th as the national day of Thanksgiving and recommend that our people rest from their daily labors and in their homes and accustomed places of worship give devout thanks for the blessings which a merciful father had bestowed upon us.” 

This enraged many people. They wanted to work. Unemployment was 16.3% and businesses believed (as is customary when a president recommends national days off) the President just told them to close their doors for a day.

• Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1939- 

To this point it was still the fourth Thursday. Now, 1939, FDR, now in his third term (how he had four terms as a president is a conversation for another day), was hoping to boost the economy (we're nearing the end of the Depression now) by giving shoppers and business some extra days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, it was moved to the third Thursday. This officially connected the holiday to shopping and away from God. A Gallup poll at the time showed 59% of Americans disapproved of the change. (Check out a New York Times article snippit here.) 22 states went with the third Thursday holiday. 23 said no, had it on the fourth Thursday because it was not about shopping, it was about drawing nearer to God. (Yes, I know that only adds up to 45 states. It was 1939, there were 48 states, but I don't know which one the last 3 went with.)

The news of that day sounds not unlike today's political atmosphere. Press called it the "Republican Thanksgiving" because it was connected to God, the founding and Abraham Lincoln. The 23rd was known as the Democratic Thanksgiving. Some calling it "Fransgiving" after FDR.

Even Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies made fun of it in 1940 showing a segment (called Holiday Highlights) with Thanksgiving "for Democrats" on the one date and a week later "for Republicans."



In 1941 Congress officially declared it the 4th Thursday, and FDR signed it. The Wall Street Journal declared the move a bust because there was no real boost in retail sales. In 1941, during World War Two, America still had a problem with shopping on Thanksgiving because that is not what the holiday was about. The war could have had something to do with sales too, I assume (note sarcasm). Now, tho, it is a big boost in sales. Now Black Friday isn't a Black Friday at all. It starts earlier. Some stores were open on Thanksgiving for the frenzy. FDR would be pleased to see all that money going places.

While I hate Black Friday (for reasons Studio C shows well), this holiday is what we make of it. We need to make the choice to be thankful. First, to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ who provide hope, forgiveness, and from whom all good things come.

Playing catch up

Ok, going to catch up and then be more diligent in my blog posts. I don't write in my journal, and I don't post anything meaningful on facebook, so it's this or nothing. (I type so much faster than I write, so here goes.)
The scar on the top of Matt's foot from the glass in the previous post is the dominating feature of that foot. You don't even notice he has toes before you admire that scar. I'd be envious, but I have a scar on my left wrist from moving... nothing quite as dramatic as glass. I was cleaning out the space under the sink and my arm scraped across shrink wrap box teeth on the way back out. It was just a scratch! I'm amazed is scarred so nicely.
My left hand as all my scars. I'm right handed. Go figure. The middle finger has a scar going around the base like a ring. I flew a kite in the park with my brother, Grant, once and foolishly had the string around my finger when I pulled without telling him to let go. I think doing that a few times could cleanly cut my finger off. Good to know. I like scars. They preserve a moment and a story on your flesh to think about later.

Anyway, I digress.

We have moved back to my hometown. It's lovely. I love the Cottonwood Heights/Holladay/SLC Inc. area. Honestly I don't know what we are anymore. No town wants to be associated with the other because one doesn't want to sound rich because of where they live or something. I don't know.

We love the porch. We watched fireworks from there! I don't know whose show it was, but it was awesome! I read the Declaration of Independence and Patrick Henry's "Give me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech.

Matt is a math and astronomy teacher at Innovations High School! YAY!!!! This has many pros and cons.

Pros
- He loves seeing those 'a-ha' moments. They make the job worth it.
- Teaching has always been his dream. Granted, he wanted to teach college so he could teach the higher maths, but he's trying to persuade as many of these young minds as possible to go into math in college.
- The school has a digital curriculum and allows students to take classes at their own pace. Some even graduate early. He wishes this option was available when he was in high school
- This school has a lot of the kids the other schools kind of gave up on. They do well at Innovations, and he gets to know them all. The principal is impressed he gets to know the students so well so quickly. Matt has a God-given gift of empathy. It has really been a blessing.
-It's SHAWSOME! (a word the students have bestowed on Mr. Shaw. We love it!)

Cons
- The school has a digital curriculum and so he teaches 6 classes and every student is turning a different assignment from a different part of any of those classes. It makes grading slow, so he brings work home a lot. Plus side for me is he doesn't play xbox anymore and I get painting time in while he works.
- Teenage words such a "cray-cray", "YOLO"... he completely despises due to their overuse. He things such word are "stu-stu!"(I had never heard of these before he started teaching.)... ah, and he also can no longer enjoy "what does the fox say".
- The suits. I think he looks dashing, but Matt used to pride in the fact he didn't own a suit. Oh well it's a plus for me!


Matt's got a new goal. He's going to finish grading (last count was 19 assignments to go, but each new day adds to that). He also has to create his own answer keys even tho the curriculum is already set up. Go figure. Anyways, he's going to finish grading, paint three pictures AND get them on the wall (He's done one already, check it out!)

THE SCREAM! All in neon paints!

In the meantime, I'm painting Hero Quest as fast as I can so we can resell them. (Not a very good pic, but here's the first game 3 orcs and 6 goblins short) Some of my paints are starting to dry, which has made from some awesome looking blood on the swords.

Well, it's November, which means it's NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth. (NANOWRIMO) The word count for this blog does not count toward that 50K, unforutnately, so off I go! I'm writing a fantasy, it's great fun!

Painful Potato

A week ago a glass bottle of chives hit the kitchen floor with a shattering smash. We swept it up and moved on with our merry married lives. Then once upon an morning Matt was making breakfast and stepped on a potato. At least, he thought it was a potato. You know that feeling, you step on something, you're not sure what, but your feels like your foot can't quite touch the ground. So, to remove said potato, Matt tried to brush it off on his other foot. He stood again... yet there was still a potato mushed in the  arch of his left foot. That was when he looked down. The other foot was now covered with dripping red lines.

Looking at the bottom of his foot he saw he had stepped on a pointed piece of glass! Still feeling no pain, he pulled out the pointed shard and watched the blood flow. For a moment he looked at his feet in wonder. How did I not notice I was cutting myself? With careful steps, he moved to the couch to sit, but unable to. The couch is occupied with stuff Beka is organizing. Well, was. Now it all needs to go.

"Beka. I need to sit."

Wondering why he can't clear a spot himself, she turns to him, prepared with a sarcastic remark. What it was, I don't know for it disappeared when her eyes saw blood dripping down her husband's feet. 

"What happened?"

"I need to sit down." 

She cleared the whole couch in a rush and he lay on his back, putting his feet on the arm. Now the pain has successfully sent its signal to the brain and he's shuddering. 

After some Bactine, gauze and tape, he looks no worse for wear. The puncture doesn't look deep, but it's hard to tell as blood blocks the view.

That day, after soldiering thru the pain with shoes on, Matt got a tetanus booster shot. Just in case. Hopefully it was worth it because after two days of a fever and STILL having a sore arm, the injection sight is STILL warm to the touch. A shot has had longer lasting pain than a puncture wound of glass. 

Stupid shot.

The puncture site two days later

Three scratches of the glassy potato remain