Giving thanks

Americans will take time Thursday from their hectic schedules to reflect on the many blessings they enjoy in their lives on this Thanksgiving and throughout the year.

It is a day to relive long-standing family traditions that make the celebration so special. It is a day for Americans to thank God, to relax, to gather in places of worship and in homes. to enjoy a feast of turkey and holiday trimmings or watch a parade. And through it all remember what we have to be thankful for — our families, friends, good health and freedoms.

We express our gratitude for what we as a people and as a nation enjoy with our rich heritage, abundant resources and plentiful harvest reminiscent of the first Thanksgiving.

It has been a difficult year with the nation facing economic uncertainty, millions of Americans out of work and the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To many that might seem cause for not celebrating, but the nation has always taken time in the midst of adversity to recount our blessings. The day was born out of hardship.

Today's feast of turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, squash and other old family favorites handed down through generations may bear little resemblance to that three-day feast enjoyed by the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1621. But it had followed the winter of their first year in which nearly half of the 102 colonists had died.

During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress urged the states to set aside a day in December as a day of thanksgiving. It was President Washington who in 1789 proclaimed Nov. 26 a national day of "public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

In the middle of the Civil War, President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November 1863 as a "day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father." The Great Depression did not deter President Roosevelt from also calling on the nation to observe the special day.

Through the ages, the customs and traditions may change. The holiday takes on new trappings. But the spirit of the day remains. Happy Thanksgiving.