About 392 years ago, the colonists of Plymouth Rock and Wampanoag Indians (supposedly) sat together and ate some semblance of a Thanksgiving dinner.  While the tradition stayed in practice for another two centuries by individual colonies and states, it wasn’t until 1863 that Abraham proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday to be held each November.

While a lot has changed since that first Thanksgiving meal occurred, the essence of the holiday remains the same.  Thanksgiving isn’t always about the crowded table, the hustle and bustle in the kitchen and the elaborate meals.  Families can be complicated, cars can fail and plane tickets can be too expensive. Life happens, and that’s okay.  It’s what makes this holiday special that sets it apart from the rest.

The pilgrims and Native Americans sat down to a meal of maize and various fowl. Your family might sit down with a big fried turkey, or you know if you aren’t the cooking type, then you might sit down to a meal fresh from Publix, and that’s okay too.  It’s not the meal that matters, but the time we are taking out of our busy schedule to appreciate where we are and what we have.  Just when you think that your life can’t be any worse, take a drive, look around you, and you will see others that are in the exact same place as you are.  Whether it’s the job you didn’t get, the money you don’t have or the people you lost along the way in life, we all have our troubles.  But that’s the beauty of Thanksgiving, it’s the one day out of the year that we have to forget about those things and focus on the positive in our lives.

If the colonists were able to brave winter on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean, suffer from exposure, scurvy and hunger and still find time to give thanks, then chances are we can too.

Enjoy your week off Eagle Nation, and remember to give thanks for all of the blessings in your life.