Holidays are a time for many happy occasions, but especially the gathering of friends and family at home.Thanksgiving is only a day away, and I’m in a holiday mood.Thanksgiving is visiting with friends and family, and feasting on turkey and all the trimmings.It’s Macy’s Thanksgiving parade in Manhattan and marching bands and make-believe. It’s eating a big piece of pumpkin pie after you are already stuffed and knowing there will be another piece waiting for later in the afternoon, after the rumbling stops.Thanksgiving is televised football games. All afternoon.When all this started, there wasn’t any Macy’s parade or football or television. You’d think they would have had a hard time finding something to be thankful for. The first big Thanksgiving celebration recorded in what is now America came in the fall of 1621, when the Pilgrims and Indians joined in a three-day feast. The Indians brought in turkeys and deer, and the pilgrim women cooked potfuls of good food.There were games and contests and displays of arms. George Washington later proclaimed a Thanksgiving observance in 1789 in his first year as president of the newly-formed United States. But he did not order it to be observed in following years and presidents that followed him decided to leave that matter to individual governors.A pushy woman magazine editor, Sarah Josepha Hale, launched a crusade in the mid 1800s to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, celebrated annually on the same day. The crusade was successful.In 1863, in the midst of the tragic Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation setting Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November and declaring it to be a “day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father.”May you and yours have a Happy Thanksgiving today! ***Like so many years in the past, our Tonkawa Buc football coaches and players are preparing for a third round playoff game this Friday night.We as a community are very lucky to have coaches like Mike Kirtley, Kurt Kirtley, Stony Fath, Kale Dice, Gage Martin and Chase Pfluger leading our young men into these playoff games.Grandson Max’s pup Tito sez: “The four surefire rules for success: 1. Show up, 2. Pay attention, 3. Ask questions and 4. Don't quit.”Lyle Becker is Editor of The Tonkawa News.E-mail him: News@tonkawanews.com ...
