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The First Thanksgiving

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2seaoat
Telstar
TEOTWAWKI
Hospital Bob
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1The First Thanksgiving Empty The First Thanksgiving 11/28/2013, 8:58 am

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

This history lesson is dedicated to Mr. Ezell wherever he may be reading his seed catalog.

____________________________________

In the fall of 1621, 90 Wampanoag Indians and 52 English colonists gathered for a three-day harvest feast.

Much about it is myth.  But this is the part we know about it which is truth...


1. The first Thanksgiving was a harvest celebration in 1621 that lasted for three days.

2. The feast most likely occurred between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11.

3. Approximately 90 Wampanoag Indians and 52 colonists - the latter mostly women and children - participated.

4. The Wampanoag, led by Chief Massasoit, contributed at least five deer to the feast.

5. Cranberry sauce, potatoes - white or sweet - and pies were not on the menu.

6. The Pilgrims and Wampanoag communicated through Squanto, a member of the Patuxet tribe, who knew English because he had associated with earlier explorers.

7. Besides meals, the event included recreation and entertainment.

8. There are only two surviving descriptions of the first Thanksgiving. One is in a letter by colonist Edward Winslow. He mentions some of the food and activities. The second description was in a book written by William Bradford 20 years afterward. His account was lost for almost 100 years.

9. Abraham Lincoln named Thanksgiving an annual holiday in 1863.


PLYMOUTH, MASS. — Everyone knows about the Pilgrims and the Indians, right? How the two groups gathered peacefully in Plymouth, Mass., to feast on juicy turkeys and colorful pumpkin pies.

The trouble is, almost everything we've been taught about the first Thanksgiving in 1621 is a myth. The holiday has two distinct histories - the actual one and a romanticized portrayal.

Today, Americans celebrate a holiday based largely on the latter, whose details of turkey and cranberry sauce decorating one long table stem from the creative musings of a magazine editor in the mid-1800s.
Thanksgiving Day by the numbers: 10 mind-stuffing facts

The true history has been a difficult one to uncover. Staff at Plimoth Plantation, which occupies several acres on the outskirts of the city of Plymouth, just north of Cape Cod, have been in the vanguard of researching the event. But a big obstacle remains: Everything historians know today is based on two passages written by colonists.
Participants' accounts

In a letter to a friend, dated December 1621, Edward Winslow wrote: "Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time, among other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others."

Twenty years later, William Bradford wrote a book that provides a few more hints as to what might have been on that first Thanksgiving table. But his book was stolen by British looters during the Revolutionary War and therefore didn't have much influence on how Thanksgiving was celebrated until it turned up many years later.

No one is certain whether the Wampanoag and the colonists regularly sat together and shared their food, or if the three-day "thanksgiving" feast Mr. Winslow recorded for posterity was a one-time event.

In the culture of the Wampanoag Indians, who inhabited the area around Cape Cod, "thanksgiving" was an everyday activity.

"We as native people [traditionally] have thanksgivings as a daily, ongoing thing," says Linda Coombs, associate director of the Wampanoag program at Plimoth Plantation. "Every time anybody went hunting or fishing or picked a plant, they would offer a prayer or acknowledgment."

But for the 52 colonists - who had experienced a year of disease, hunger, and diminishing hopes - their bountiful harvest was cause for a special celebration to give thanks.

"Neither the English people nor the native people in 1621 knew they were having the first Thanksgiving," Ms. Coombs says. No one knew that the details would interest coming generations.

"We're not sure why Massasoit and the 90 men ended up coming to Plimoth," Coombs says. "There's an assumption that they were invited, but nowhere in the passage does it say they were. And the idea that they sat down and lived happily ever after is, well, untrue. The relationship between the English and the Wampanoag was very complex."

Since they did not speak the same language, the extent to which the colonists and Indians intermingled remains a mystery. But a few details of that first Thanksgiving are certain, says Kathleen Curtin, food historian at the Plimoth Plantation.
What was on the menu?

First, wild turkey was never mentioned in Winslow's account. It is probable that the large amounts of "fowl" brought back by four hunters were seasonal waterfowl such as duck or geese.

And if cranberries were served, they would have been used for their tartness or color, not the sweet sauce or relish so common today. In fact, it would be 50 more years before berries were boiled with sugar and used as an accompaniment to meat.

Potatoes weren't part of the feast, either. Neither the sweet potato nor the white potato was yet available to colonists.

The presence of pumpkin pie appears to be a myth, too. The group may have eaten pumpkins and other squashes native to New England, but it is unlikely that they had the ingredients for pie crust - butter and wheat flour. Even if they had possessed butter and flour, the colonists hadn't yet built an oven for baking.

"While we have been able to work out which modern dishes were not available in 1621, just what was served is a tougher nut to crack," Ms. Curtin says.

A couple of guesses can be made from other passages in Winslow's correspondence about the general diet at the time: lobsters, mussels, "sallet herbs," white and red grapes, black and red plums, and flint corn.

"We have only one documented harvest feast that occurred between the cultures," Curtin points out. "You don't hear about [any other] harvests occurring between them. I assume that they did on some level, but it's fascinating that it is just that one source, one sentence in one letter. I wonder what else is there that someone just didn't jot down, and we now know nothing about."

Until the early 1800s, Thanksgiving was considered to be a regional holiday celebrated solemnly through fasting and quiet reflection.

But the 19th century had its own Martha Stewart, and it didn't take her long to turn New England fasting into national feasting. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the popular Godey's Lady's Book, stumbled upon Winslow's passage and refused to let the historic day fade from the minds - or tables - of Americans. This established trendsetter filled her magazine with recipes and editorials about Thanksgiving.

It was also about this time - in 1854, to be exact - that Bradford's history book of Plymouth Plantation resurfaced. The book increased interest in the Pilgrims, and Mrs. Hale and others latched onto the fact he mentioned that the colonists had killed wild turkeys during the autumn.

In her magazine Hale wrote appealing articles about roasted turkeys, savory stuffing, and pumpkin pies - all the foods that today's holiday meals are likely to contain.

In the process, she created holiday "traditions" that share few similarities with the original feast in 1621.

In 1858, Hale petitioned the president of the United States to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. She wrote: "Let this day, from this time forth, as long as our Banner of Stars floats on the breeze, be the grand Thanksgiving holiday of our nation, when the noise and tumult of worldliness may be exchanged for the length of the laugh of happy children, the glad greetings of family reunion, and the humble gratitude of the Christian heart."

Five years later, Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

"[Hale's] depiction is wrong much more often than it's right," says Nancy Brennan, president of Plimoth Plantation. "When this idea [of the first Thanksgiving] caught on, it became a big, popular subject for prints and books and paintings, all of which used whatever people could gather about what the environment might have been like in 1621."
A native view

With little mention of the native population, the Wampanoag presence was virtually relegated to the background, and the Pilgrim presence promoted to the fore.

"The Wampanoag, we sometimes forget, were the majority population," Ms. Brennan says. "In the 19th and 20th centuries, Thanksgiving was really a tool for Americanization amid the great influx of immigration. It was supposed to bind this diverse population into one union."

And so, over the centuries, that first Thanksgiving took on a shape of mythological proportions. But how Americans celebrate today has little to do with the convergence of two different populations across an enormous cultural divide.

One man who would like people to know more about the actual Thanksgiving is descended from the Wampanoag Indians who were such an essential part of the first Thanksgiving celebration.

He steps out onto the porch in front of the Flume restaurant in Plymouth and looks south. He lifts his face - marked by deep lines and dark, heavy eyes - toward the open sky.

"I'm looking down the river here now, and the sun is bright, and the tide is high, and the wind is blowing," he says. "My people would say that is the spirit coming from the southwest, where the corn and beans and squash come from. So we thank the spirit world - the fire, the moon, the sky, the sun, the earth."

This man's name is Earl Mills Sr., and he is a retired high school teacher and athletic director, the author of two books, and the owner of the restaurant.

But Mr. Mills has another name and another job. As Flying Eagle, he is the chief of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.

Still, he doesn't see himself as caught between two cultures. Instead, he embraces both.

With equal relish, Mills will spend an afternoon walking in peaceful silence, as his ancestors did, or an evening listening to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

He has always spent a lot of time thinking about the history of his people, however, and the confusion about what really happened back in 1621.

"Things have changed so much," he says, choosing his words carefully. "Even Thanksgiving has changed. Young people today don't remember what it was like 50 or 100 years ago.

"Then, we picked our own cranberries from our own cranberry bogs, and we caught rabbits and hung them outside our garage doors."

More recently, Coombs remembers that as she was growing up, her family celebrated the holiday as most other Americans did. She went to her grandfather's house, ate a turkey dinner, and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television. It wasn't until she was in college that she learned her ancestors had observed Thanksgiving in a different manner.

It is not just the eating, but the gathering together, preparing, and thanking that matters, Mills says. "The role of food is important, but it's gotten to the point where we become gluttons.... We could spend a lot more time really thinking about what's going on in our world and giving more thanks."
Whose history is it?

Mills points to the Plymouth Rock on the town's waterfront as an example of differing views. The rock, first placed in 1774, is a monument to the landing of the Mayflower, the ship that brought the Pilgrims to Massachusetts 382 years ago.

"They're saying this is 'America's hometown,' that this is the rock [the colonists] stepped on," Mills says. "I'm not against that, and it's nice to have the rock, but don't try to make it true when it's really a symbol, a mythology."

He's also disturbed by the fact that many people still don't know or seem quick to dismiss the native side of the story.

"When I talk about Thanksgiving, [some people think] it happened too long ago to matter," Mills says. "But when they talk about it, well, it's history."

Still, the Wampanoag now have many more opportunities to contribute to historical accounts of the region, offering insight into the traditions of their people that have been passed down orally through the generations.

"The two groups are working very well together in recent years," Mills says. "And those connections turn into a circle. No matter how small, how minor, they all contribute to the human beings that we are."

In late 1621, remembering the first Thanksgiving gathering, Edward Winslow expressed a sentiment similar to Mills's call for sharing and giving thanks:"And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."



http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/r14/2002/1127/p13s02-lign.html

2The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/28/2013, 9:24 am

TEOTWAWKI

TEOTWAWKI

Then this happened and the rest is history....

3The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/28/2013, 9:29 am

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

The First Thanksgiving The-first-thanksgiving-pilgrim-at-plymouth-jennie-a.-brownscombe-1914

It was on March 16, 1621, three months after the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, that they met their first Indian neighbor. They didn’t expect any Indian to just walk right into Plymouth, nor did they expect him to speak English. But that is exactly what happened. His name was Samoset, and he had learned to speak from a visiting English fisherman. The Pilgrims offered him food, drink and clothing, and then Samoset educated the Pilgrims about the land, surrounding Indian tribes and a strange sickness that killed nearly everyone in his Patuxet tribe. He spent the night, and in the morning the Pilgrims gave him gifts of a knife, a ring and a bracelet before he left.

Samoset continued to come back with additional hungry Indians. One such Indian was named Squanto. Squanto also spoke English, because an English captain, who tried to sell him into slavery, had kidnapped him! But he escaped and returned home. Squanto became a good friend to the Pilgrims, and ended up spending his whole life in the Plimoth Plantation.

Without Squanto’s help, the pilgrims may have never survived. Squanto showed where the fish and eels swam and how to catch them. He also showed them where to hunt deer, turkey, and other animals, and how to use nets, hooks, spears and bare hands as tools to capture prey. Plus, Squanto showed the Pilgrims where the wild berries grew, and which berries and plants were safe to eat. He even taught them a special trick to help their corn grow: plant a couple fish, called herring, with the corn kernels in little hills. The herring acts as a fertilizer and helps the corn grow more plentiful.

Squanto also acted as a translator so the two communities could make a peace treaty. Chief Massoit, the leader of the Wampanoag tribe, met with the Governor Carver, and together they discussed peace. They decided:


1.) The two groups would never attack each other, and if any of their people did, they would be punished.
2.) If one of the groups was attacked, the other would come to its’ defense.
3.) The Indians and Pilgrims would not carry weapons while visiting each other.
4.)No stealing.

The Pilgrims and Indians remained in peace for fifty-four years!

[img] The First Thanksgiving Squantoportrait[/img]
___________________________________________

SOURCE:


My name is Kerri Furbush, and I am a sophomore at Boston University. I am majoring in Secondary Math Education, and would like to teach 10th grade math some day.

This website is created to help 5th graders learn more about the Colonial Life. The site examines the MayFlower Trip, as well as the structure and culture of the Plimoth Plantation.


4The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/28/2013, 9:35 am

TEOTWAWKI

TEOTWAWKI

Must not have been any Zionists over here yet...they were just rounding up Africans for their slave trade probably and had yet to disrupt the pilgrims...they are making up for lost time though.

5The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/28/2013, 9:36 am

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

The book Mourt's Relation (full title: A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England) was written primarily by Edward Winslow, although William Bradford appears to have written most of the first section. Written between November 1620 and November 1621, it describes in detail what happened from the landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims

This is an excerpt from the book...

Friday the 16th a fair warm day towards; this morning we determined to conclude of the military orders, which we had begun to consider of before but were interrupted by the savages, as we mentioned formerly; and whilst we were busied hereabout, we were interrupted again, for there presented himself a savage, which caused an alarm. He very boldly came all alone and along the houses straight to the rendezvous, where we intercepted him, not suffering him to go in, as undoubtedly he would, out of his boldness. He saluted us in English, and bade us welcome, for he had learned some broken English among the Englishmen that came to fish at Monchiggon, and knew by name the most of the captains, nigers, and masters that usually came. He was a man free in speech, so far as he could express his mind, and of a seemly carriage. We questioned him of many things; he was the first savage we could meet withal. He said he was not of these parts, but of Morattiggon, and one of the sagamores or lords thereof, and had been eight months in these parts, it lying hence a day's sail with a great wind, and five days by land. He discoursed of the whole country, and of every province, and of their sagamores, and their number of men, and strength. The wind being to rise a little, we cast a horseman's coat about him, for he was stark naked, only a leather about his waist, with a fringe about a span long, or little more; he had a bow and two arrows, the one headed, and the other unheaded. He was a tall straight man, the hair of his head black, long behind, only short before, none on his face at all; he asked some beer, but we gave him strong water and biscuit, and butter, and cheese, and pudding, and a piece of mallard, all which he liked well, and had been acquainted with such amongst the English. He told us the place where we now live is called Patuxet, and that about four years ago all the inhabitants died of an extraordinary plague, and there is neither man, woman, nor child remaining, as indeed we have found none, so as there is none to hinder our possession, or to lay claim unto it. All the afternoon we spent in communication with him; we would gladly have been rid of him at night, but he was not willing to go this night. Then we thought to carry him on shipboard, wherewith he was well content, and went into the shallop, but the wind was high and the water scant, that it could not return back. We lodged him that night at Stephen Hopkins' house, and watched him.

The next day he went away back to the Massasoits, from whence he said he came, who are our next bordering neighbors. They are sixty strong, as he saith. The Nausets are as near southeast of them, and are a hundred strong, and those were they of whom our people were encountered, as before related. They are much incensed and provoked against the English, and about eight months ago slew three Englishmen, and two more hardly escaped by flight to Monchiggon; they were Sir Ferdinando Gorges his men, as this savage told us, as he did likewise of the huggery, that is, fight, that our discoverers had with the Nausets, and of our tools that were taken out of the woods, which we willed him should be brought again, otherwise, we would right ourselves. These people are ill affected towards the English, by reason of one Hunt, a master of a ship, who deceived the people, and got them under color of trucking with them, twenty out of this very place where we inhabit, and seven men from Nauset, and carried them away, and sold them for slaves like a wretched man (for twenty pound a man) that cares not what mischief he doth for his profit.

Saturday, in the morning we dismissed the savage, and gave him a knife, a bracelet, and a ring; he promised within a night or two to come again, and to bring with him some of the Massasoits, our neighbors, with such beavers' skins as they had to truck with us.

6The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/28/2013, 9:44 am

TEOTWAWKI

TEOTWAWKI

Well have a great turkey day Bob...I am heading for Navarre....

7The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/28/2013, 9:47 am

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

from wiki...

The Patuxet were wiped out by a series of plagues that decimated the indigenous peoples of southeastern New England in the second decade of the 17th century. The epidemics which swept across New England and the Canadian Maritimes between 1614 and 1620 were especially devastating to the Wampanoag and neighboring Massachuset, with mortality reaching 100% in many mainland villages. When the Pilgrims landed in 1620, all the Patuxet except Squanto had died. The plagues have been attributed variously to smallpox, leptospirosis, and other diseases.

Some European expedition captains were known to increase profits by capturing natives to sell as slaves. Such was the case when Thomas Hunt kidnapped several Wampanoag in 1614 and later sold them in Spain. One of his captives, a Patuxet named Tisquantum, anglicized as Squanto, was purchased by Spanish friars who then freed him and instructed him in the Christian faith. After he gained his freedom, Squanto was able to work his way to England and signed on as an interpreter for a British expedition to Newfoundland. From there Squanto went back to his home, only to discover that, in his absence, epidemics had killed everyone in his village.

Squanto succumbed to "Indian fever" himself in November 1622. With his death, the Patuxet people passed into history.

Before he died, Squanto was to become instrumental in the foundation of the colony of English settlers at Plymouth.

Samoset, a Pemaquid (Abenaki) sachem from Maine introduced himself to the Pilgrims upon their arrival in 1620. Shortly thereafter, he introduced Squanto (presumably because Squanto spoke better English) to the Pilgrims, who were now living at the site of Squanto's old village. From that point onward, Squanto devoted himself to helping the Pilgrims. Whatever his motivations, with great kindness and patience, he taught the English the skills they needed to survive.

Although Samoset appears to have been important in establishing initial relations with the Pilgrims, Squanto was undoubtedly the main benefactor towards the Pilgrim's survival. In addition, he also served as an intermediary between the Pilgrims and Massasoit, the Grand Sachem of the Wampanoag (original name Ousamequin or "Yellow Feather". As such, he was instrumental in the friendship treaty that the two signed, allowing the settlers to occupy the area around the old Patuxet village.Massasoit would honor this treaty until his death in 1661.

8The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/28/2013, 10:12 am

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

TEOTWAWKI wrote:have a great turkey day Bob
you too, teo

9The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/23/2016, 1:03 pm

Telstar

Telstar

Happy Thanksgiving.

10The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/23/2016, 2:29 pm

2seaoat



Stone cold sad.

11The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/23/2016, 3:07 pm

Guest


Guest

It really is.

12The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/23/2016, 3:40 pm

Joanimaroni

Joanimaroni

Missing them both. Such an important, interesting and funny part of our group. Both were kind and thoughtful.

13The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/23/2016, 6:34 pm

RealLindaL



Sucks that people have to die; no two ways about it. Just sucks.

14The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/23/2016, 6:36 pm

Guest


Guest

Hospital Bob wrote:
TEOTWAWKI wrote:have a great turkey day Bob
you too,  teo


Sad


15The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 8:42 am

dumpcare



Happy Thanksgiving all, Bob and Teo.

16The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 1:16 pm

Sal

Sal

17The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 2:32 pm

Joanimaroni

Joanimaroni

Happy Thanksgiving . ...

18The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 9:18 pm

2seaoat



I go to the basement where my daughter has a lazy boy for thanksgiving.  The seven kids come down and play with legos, play star war video games, and play with American girl dolls and playhouse.   They have gotten use to coming up to grandpa and talking to me.  The adults do not entirely understand how important it is to me to spend every minute I can with kids.  They gather around when they break off with their individual play and ask me questions.  I found out about a burmese mountain dog which my SIL sister's boys got for a pet.  I went to my phone and we looked up photos as they got excited seeing images of their dog.  Next we were looking at Burmese pythons and they were fascinated.  Pretty soon they were talking to me about the divorce of their parents and how excited they were to get to see their dad twice in one week, as they were going to his house for Friday.   Their mom remarried and the new dad has joined us with his fifth grade daughter who blends in perfectly with her step brothers and the new baby her father and my sil sister share.  The kids opened up and were telling me about the divorce and not getting to see their dad, but then the fifth grader talks to me and on the surface everything seems normal, but she too is hurting.  Her mother who has custody has not been keeping her clothes clean, the house clean, and has been neglecting this kid.  I lost my father in fourth grade and I just feel the pain of these kids as they talk about what makes them happy.  My four grandkids are oblivious to divorce or neglect, yet the pain is so obvious.  I compliment, play games with, more praise, more talking about how I wet my pants in kindergarten because I was too embarrassed to go to the teacher and tell her I had to go to the bathroom, my grandson tells a story about how he made a mistake, but hid it from his preschool teacher and changed into new spare underwear and pants.  The kindergarten non grandson then tells me he made a mistake this year in his kindergarten class and how he was embarrassed.  I told them that stuff happens when you are a kid, and it gets better as you get older.  His brother then tells me he cannot play the star wars video game because he got his name on the board in kindergarten for getting in trouble.   I said, I never got in trouble and nobody ever put my name on the board.   One day the kids said who is that guy.........If only I have got my name put on the board......everybody would know me.   He goes......no.......getting your name put on the board is not good.......I go Peyton.......does everybody in kindergarten know who you are.......yes...my name is on the board.......hey peyton........you are like a movie star or football player and everybody knows you......I wish I could have had my name on the board.......my second grade granddaughter looks over and smiles......completely knowing what papa had just done........so many kids hurting in broken homes who just have to be told......things will be ok and everybody gets sad on making mistakes, but the old guy in the lazy boy....he says everything will be ok......unless you get eaten by a Burmese python.

There is much to be thankful, and I never thought I would have another year in the basement, or that in a little over a year we would lose Bob and Teo, but like children in a basement around an old man in a lazy boy, we will always have the memories.

19The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 9:32 pm

2seaoat



I did not watch one football game as I am basically done with the NFL this year. I am like a compulsive football fan, but when I hear the 27 high school kids died in football related deaths last year, and having seen the suffering of former bear players who entertained my with their brutal physical play......I just have lost my appetite. I loved playing football. As adults we would gather in a city park in our twenties and played tackle football without uniforms. Folks would come and watch us as people would break bones, lacerate kidneys, break noses, but nobody used their head to lead with a tackle......nobody even got a concussion without uniforms. I hope by super bowl, I will fall back in love with the game, but I feel hollow right now and after watching real sports, it is BS that they are improving the safety with kids......the game is not becoming more safe.

20The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 9:49 pm

Joanimaroni

Joanimaroni

Sounds like a great time in the basement Seaoat...for you and the kids.

21The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 10:15 pm

2seaoat



Sounds like a great time in the basement Seaoat...for you and the kids.

It was the best thanksgiving because I shared the joy of life with children and hope they will feel more secure and loved after thanksgiving. My heart was pained when I talked with the fifth grade girl about what she wanted for christmas, and she just drifted off to a sad place where she really had no want for any material gift. I so got her pain, I wanted my dad back at their age, but he was dead, and I just prayed somehow he would be back, the boys want their dad in their lives, and this girl is hurting from neglect by a mother who cannot care for her, and keep her clean. My wife told me stories of children coming to school dirty, and then relayed the neglect this fifth grader has faced. Her sadness was hidden, and I can only hope that thanksgiving and being part of family, if only a new tradition for the last three years helps her work her way through these tough times. Things will get better, I would really like to spend next year in the basement with these kids again, but the bone mets pretty much let me know that I will not see another thanksgiving, but I could never have asked for a better get together......priceless, as we all face challenges, which to a child sometimes seems impossible and so unfair......it gets better.

22The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 10:21 pm

2seaoat



Also on the way home my wife got a text. Apparently my grandson told his father that papa told him that Papa found you in a barn......damn.....even if I did make it next year......they probably are going to have some adult supervision in the basement to make sure the kid with grey hair is not telling whopper stories.

23The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 11:09 pm

Sal

Sal

Put the old dude in the basement where the kids are??

You're doing it wrong.

The point to going to the basement is there is no old guy.

Geez, even I remember that.

24The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 11:15 pm

Joanimaroni

Joanimaroni

Oh Seaoat children love whoppers! I still remember the whoppers my "Pop-o" told me....he would delight in telling a huge story in front of my "Me-a"... he did it to here me giggle and watch my grandmother blush while she denied the story. Those are the memories kids will have...and they will always say...tell me something else! When  I reminisce ...it takes me right back to their house sitting with Pop-o in his chair....and watching him tell me and then turning and seeing my grandmother.....very strong memories.

25The First Thanksgiving Empty Re: The First Thanksgiving 11/24/2016, 11:53 pm

Guest


Guest

I once had a nephew convinced that airplanes were actually the size of a fly... he struggled for awhile. Today I wore a captain America t-shirt under my flannel shirt... I flashed it to each kid privately and told them not to tell anybody... lol. Most of them are wary of my tales by now... lol.

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