“Sally, Thanksgiving is a very important holiday. Ours was the first country in the world to make a national holiday to give thanks.”
—Charles M. Schulz
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, because it celebrates what’s important in my life: family, friends, faith—and food! I should throw in football, because that’s always part of Thanksgiving in our house, too.
Thanksgiving is about gratitude. It’s about gathering. It’s not about wrapping and unwrapping presents. It’s about being present in our loved ones’ lives.
Every year I used to go home to Washington to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents. It was something I counted on and looked forward to every year: seeing my brothers and their families, my dad carving the turkey, and my mother’s face wreathed in joy as she sat at the head of the table, both of them basking in the love and laughter of the family they built.
After they both passed away and my own family situation changed, I found myself struggling to come up with a new Thanksgiving tradition. At first I was invited to my friend’s Thanksgiving celebrations. But then I realized it had always been such an important holiday to me that I wanted to start my own tradition. How to do that? Well, one thing I always admired about my parents’ Thanksgiving is that they included anyone and everyone their children wanted to invite. So I started doing that, too. Slowly but surely, my table filled up, and slowly but surely a new tradition was born.
What happens at Thanksgiving is powerful. I’ve often had people at my table who weren’t born here, who weren’t raised knowing about this holiday, but who’ve come to love it, because it’s about being welcomed at the table. It’s about acceptance. It’s about being invited in.
Gather at the table. Invite people in. Celebrate with people you love and care about. Listen. Learn. Love. Focus on what you know makes you feel good, and what makes you feel certain. Focus on your gifts. Focus on your gratitude.
And don’t wait for Thanksgiving! Watching how much people enjoyed the occasion led me to start a new tradition: The Sunday Dinner. Every Sunday, I invite people to my table—to gather, to eat, to laugh. It’s a tradition my kids have come to love and I’ve come to count on. Food, family, love, and laughter. Who says we have to do it only once a year?
Dear God, thank you for the experience of finding delight in even the simplest things in life. Help me never to take what you’ve given me for granted. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen.