We are counting down the days to Thanksgiving - it's only a little over a week away. At our house, there's the turkey and dressing (in the South, we call it dressing, not stuffing), ham, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, sourdough rolls...and that's just the main course. Of course, there's pecan pie and homemade cheesecake and maybe a surprise dessert brought by my youngest daughter's mother-in-law. Below is a photo of our Christmas feast last year, so you'll get a general idea at all the food we have.
This year, we'll be blessed with two additions to this same daughter's family. Sarah, our exchange student from Germany and Nadir, our exchange student from Spain. It will be their first celebration of Thanksgiving in our country and we are thankful for having them with us. There will be thirteen of us sitting down to our meal - our family and extended family just keeps getting larger and larger.
According to Wikipedia, a day for thanksgiving is celebrated both in the United States and Canada, but on different days. In Canada, it is the second Monday in October. In the US, it falls on the fourth Thursday in November. Here, it originated as a celebration giving thanks to God for a bountiful harvest. In Canada, it began with an explorer giving thanks with a celebration for surviving a long journey but eventually also came to be a day to celebrate the blessings of a good harvest.
No matter where it originated and why, we North Americans set aside one day each year for giving thanks, although most of us give thanks daily for the blessings we are given and the food on our table.
If I listed all my blessings, this blog would go on and on forever. I think at the top of most peoples "thankful" list would be (1) Family, (2) Health, (3) Friends, (4) The beauty of God's earth, (5) Food and Shelter, 6...7...8.... Well, you get the picture.
Below is a Thanksgiving prayer that I wrote - it was my opening prayer for our womens group at church tonight and I will share it with you.
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| That's me in the center in green |
This year, we'll be blessed with two additions to this same daughter's family. Sarah, our exchange student from Germany and Nadir, our exchange student from Spain. It will be their first celebration of Thanksgiving in our country and we are thankful for having them with us. There will be thirteen of us sitting down to our meal - our family and extended family just keeps getting larger and larger.
According to Wikipedia, a day for thanksgiving is celebrated both in the United States and Canada, but on different days. In Canada, it is the second Monday in October. In the US, it falls on the fourth Thursday in November. Here, it originated as a celebration giving thanks to God for a bountiful harvest. In Canada, it began with an explorer giving thanks with a celebration for surviving a long journey but eventually also came to be a day to celebrate the blessings of a good harvest.
No matter where it originated and why, we North Americans set aside one day each year for giving thanks, although most of us give thanks daily for the blessings we are given and the food on our table.
If I listed all my blessings, this blog would go on and on forever. I think at the top of most peoples "thankful" list would be (1) Family, (2) Health, (3) Friends, (4) The beauty of God's earth, (5) Food and Shelter, 6...7...8.... Well, you get the picture.
Below is a Thanksgiving prayer that I wrote - it was my opening prayer for our womens group at church tonight and I will share it with you.
Our Father,
In this season of thanksgiving, we give thanks to You for Your many blessings.
Though we are not rich, we have enough.
Though we are not wise, you give us the wisdom we need, when we need it.
Though we are not perfect, you give us your Word to guide us.
Though we fail you, you give us forgiveness that we do not deserve.
We thank you for this, our Lord – we thank you from the bottom of our hearts in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.
Amen
Today and always, I have a thankful heart. How about you? Do you have something ever so special that you are thankful for?
Hi, Dear Glenda.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about you since the last post of yours.
Oh, nice to meet you. You all look Happy and Lovely, having fun gathering last year♬♬♬
Yes, first time for me to get the picture of the food you have.
I was impressed by the opening prayer you have given.
And your list of blessing is wonderful!!! I thank my hubby for his understanding; which I'm blessed the most. Also the friends I gained from many places of the world through blogging were my precious blessing from God.
Thank you for being my friend, and Love from Japan, Orchid*
Hi Glenda...We'll have a small group of 14 here. I'm grateful I can pull enough funds together to feed them!
ReplyDeleteIt is such a nice thing to host exchange students...good for you!
Hugs~
I reckon I'm thankful for life. Without it I'd have none of the other special people or things.
ReplyDeleteMy family in TN is countless. Maybe I'll sit and count them one day. Here in NC with the whoa-man's family it's an even dozen.
Hi Glenda. What a lovely Thanksgiving Prayer. Thank you for sharing it with us. Last year, when I first started blogging, was the first time I really heard all about Thanksgiving from my American friends, and I was amazed by the amount of food that seemed to be consumed! It all looked delicious I must say, and I said at the time, that I wished we had Thanksgiving over here in England!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to hear all the things you are thankful for. Diane, if you ever want a real Thanksgiving feast, we always have room at our table.
ReplyDeleteThe best things in life..Family gatherings..We can't wait..
ReplyDeleteYour food sounds wonderful..and it is fit for a King..We do the same..
Just a fun time and so much to be thankful for..Happy Thanksgiving..