November

November, the eleventh month of the Christian calendar is a nostalgic month. The year is starting to wind down at this point but we are in fact starting to gear up for the coming holidays. Families are starting to gather for the holidays and we see people dear to us that we might not have seen for awhile. Thanksgiving, celebrated during the last week of November, is the kickoff for the Christmas shopping season and all the festivities of Christmas. Thanksgiving is a time to stop before the storm as it were and take stock of all we as a people and a nation have to be thankful for. God's blessings and continued prosperity are upper most. We need to praise Him for all He has given us and to pray for our leaders to lead us into the twenty first century and that they lead us on the right path.

Thanksgiving Day activities are varied. They include getting the big dinner in the oven which usually consists of a roasted turkey, dressing or stuffing if you will, candied sweet potatoes or yams, mashed potatoes, a vegetable, salad, bread or rolls and pumpkin pie with whipped cream and for some of us, a nice, juicy mincemeat pie to round it all off. Many people serve other things besides turkey but I would say it's probably save to assume that more turkey is consumed on that day than anything other meat in America. Many household cooks get busy cooking in the early hours but I preferred to sleep in and eat later. There are the traditional Thanksgiving Day parades and the football games all afternoon and into the night. The main activity after dinner participated by the males in my family is passing out in the living room with full tummies sticking out. I have a picture of my father, my husband and step-brother all asleep like that. It is really quite funny. Those whom ate an early dinner head toward the kitchen to raid leftovers during the evening while those eating late have been feasting all day on snacks and chip dip. No matter how you observe Thanksgiving in America, you can almost safely say that the country over indulges on that day. Hey, it's traditional and you can fight tradition now can you?

~ National Author's Day
   ~ Cookie Monster's Birthday
   ~ Daniel Boone's Birthday
   ~ National Devilled Egg Day
   ~ Sandwich Day
   ~ Election Day
   ~ Hug-a-Bear Day
   ~ Veteran's Day
   ~ National Mom's and Dad's Day
   ~ Homemade Bread Day
   ~ National Young Reader's Day
   ~ Mickey Mouse's Birthday
   ~ Thanksgiving Day
   ~ Charles Schultz' Birthday
   ~ Second Week ~ American Education Week
   ~ Second Week ~ National Children's Book Week

~ National Adoption Month

~ National Nutrition Month

~ National Hospice Month

~ America's Diabetes Month

~ National Epilepsy Month

~ National Peanut Butter Month

~ The Pilgrims and America's
First Thanksgiving

Bountiful Thanksgiving

~ Thanksgiving with Reader's Digest

~ Left Over Turkey?

~ Better Homes and Gardens Online

~ Thanksgiving Write A Story Contest
For Kids

~ The Mayflower Web Pages

The song playing is called Over the River and Through the Wood written by Lydia Maria Child and appeared in Flowers for Children, Vol. 2 in 1844. The lyrics to the very familiar holiday tune are:

Over the river and through the wood�
To Grandfather's house we go.�
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh�
Through white and drifted snow.�

Over the river and through the wood --
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the wood
To have a first-rate play.�
Hear the bells ring,
Ting-a-ling-ling!
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!�

Over the river and through the wood,
Trot fast, my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground
Like a hunting hound,�
For this is Thanksgiving Day.