Month of Gratitude: Thanksgiving

I'm grateful for Thanksgiving, not only the chance to gather with family and to cook special foods, but also to contemplate gratitude itself (and compassion and generosity, especially with yearly food bank donations), as well as to reexamine the early history of European settlers and the Wampanoag who were here first.

I'm starting to work on our family menu for next week.  How is it already next week??  I think we'll have pretty much the same as always:

• turkey
• dressing (I've got leftover cornbread, homemade biscuits, and Italian bread in the freezer!)
• gravy
• homemade rolls
• cranberry sauce(s)--jellied, homemade, fresh, horseradish varieties
• sweet potatoes
• green bean casserole
• jello
• pumpkin pie
• pecan pie

The rest is up for discussion.  I'm considering broccoli rice casserole, roasted Brussel sprouts, something to snack on, and whatever Goo wants to make.  I haven't done the shopping for us yet, but I did fill a cart with sets of 10 for $10 deals at the store to donate to the food bank.  I usually get boxed stuffing, mainly because it is so much lighter to carry than canned green beans or cranberry sauce.  We'll take those to church this week.  

And I'm prepping to do a presentation on pilgrims at school for Sis and Bud's class.  I have my white pilgrim coif/cap and will wear my maroon colonial outfit (which can look 17th century for the occasion, especially with the cap.)  Of course, talking about Thanksgiving is fraught.  I don't want to whitewash the time period or present myths of a friendly "First Thanksgiving" with cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes, but it has to be appropriate for second graders.  I'm hoping to read the original account of the 1621 Harvest Feast adn talk about life for the settlers and also life for the Wampanoag, including the thanksgiving rites of both--European harvest festivals, the Strawberry Thanksgiving, and native traditions of gratitude for Mother Earth.  I might also mention what our own town looked like in 1621, which was essentially a summer village of the local tribe; Europeans only showed up 20+ years later.  I'm still conceiving of it, drawing ideas from Oyate, an organization for Native American/American Indian advocacy and education , and Plimoth Plantation, which has led the research on the original 1621 feast as well as a more accurate and responsible understanding of the Wampanoag and settlers.  

Lastly, I'm enjoying contemplating what I'm thankful for each day and posting it here.  This was yesterday's gratitude, actually.  When I reflect tonight, I wonder what I'll be grateful for today?