Thanksgiving

Last weekend, we celebrated Thanksgiving at the home of one our lovely American friends who hosted a big party of expats and Aussies. For that celebration, I made a couple of pecan pies, but those are hardly work at all, so my output was limited. Our friend put a lot of work into a gorgeous spread with all the traditional fixings.

This was my third Thanksgiving in Australia and, despite the strangeness of having a harvest festival in late spring, I've actually come to love celebrating Down Under. For one thing, it is not a given that the holiday will even occur. And, some of the ingredients can be tricky to come by, requiring a bit of creativity. Plus, it is fun to introduce a celebration with such broad appeal and pure intentions to people other than Americans. 

In that spirit, I proposed creating a belated Thanksgiving for our monthly Unitarian Universalist group, which is made up of mostly Aussies. Partner-in-Crime and I are preparing a few words to say about the holiday and hope to have everyone share what they are thankful for. Of course, the most important part of the ceremony is the traditional meal. As it was my idea, and Partner-in-Crime and I are probably the only ones with any experience with Thanksgiving, I suggested that we be in charge of the whole feast for 12. 

I set aside today for cooking, and I write this in the middle of preparations (the sweet potatoes are cooking for the casserole - marshmallow topped sweet potato casserole always piques the curiosity of the Aussies, I've found). Today just happens to be the hottest day of the year, thus far, and we don't have air conditioning, so conditions are not entirely ideal for this project I've undertaken.

Nothing says Thanksgiving and gratitude like cranking the oven up to 400 for the whole day when it's 95 degrees outside and you're 7-1/2 months pregnant! I trust you can sense my devotion!

While doing a little bit of research on Thanksgiving for our talk, I came across the story of Sarah Hale, a woman who vehemently petitioned Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Incidentally, she is also the woman who wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb." She believed that the declaration of the new holiday could unify the nation in a "renewed pledge of love and loyalty to the Constitution of the United States," and might prevent the Civil War that was looming on the horizon. Obviously, she was rather the idealist, but it's such a nice sentiment. Lincoln finally declared Thanksgiving a holiday in 1863, though the Civil War was already raging by then. 

I love this quote by Sarah Hale on why Thanksgiving and the 4th of July are important: 

"There is a deep moral influence in these periodical seasons of rejoicing, in which whole communities participate. They bring out . . . the best sympathies in our natures."

Indeed, I believe that remains true about Thanksgiving, and that's why I don't at all mind an afternoon of heat and discomfort to share the spirit.