A day for thanks, food and football

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November 20, 2009

BY ROBIN L. QUILLON The Tribune-Democrat Fri Nov 20, 2009, 11:19 AM EST

“I heard Mr. Turkey say gobble, gobble, gobble.

“It soon will be Thanksgiving Day gobble, gobble, gobble.

“People say that it’s great fun.

“But I think that I shall run.

“And hide until the day is done gobble, gobble, gobble.”

I chuckle, because I can’t believe I actually remembered that song from elementary school.

We would sing it every year and it always got me excited for Thanksgiving.

It is amazing what you remember from childhood.

Can you believe it? Thanksgiving Day is Thursday.

I suppose it’s true that time flies when you are having fun. This year has slipped by faster than you can say ... the apology tour continues.

In a few days, homes will be filled with mouth-watering aromas of delicious foods cooking. My favorite has to be a chilled pumpkin pie. To eat it any other way would be a sin, and I will recommend to newly elected judges Pat Kiniry and Linda Fleming that whipped cream on a pumpkin pie should be a felony punishable by having to eat pickles or olives.

It is the day when diets are thrown to the wind and you are allowed to eat yourself into a coma.

I have found it easy to go on a diet right after a big meal. You?

I have a special sideboard-equipped plate waiting to be filled to the brim on turkey day.

And in anticipation of the football overload, I’ve been working my groove into my Lazy Boy for the past few months.

Please, cable-TV, don’t let me down. Any outage would be a disaster.

In all seriousness, Thanksgiving is about as American as it gets. On this day, one could see elaborate feasts or humble meals. Both, I believe, will be prepared by hands that love us.

Many families will be missing loved ones for one reason or another. However, I am reminded of the poet Wilbur Nesbit’s words, “Forever on Thanksgiving Day, the heart will find the pathway home.”

So true.

I stand in awe of the more than 100 colonists who bravely sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1620, looking to settle in the new world. This religious group had begun to question the beliefs of the Church of England, and its members wanted to be unencumbered by it.

The Pilgrims settled in what is now the state of Massachusetts.

Years later, colonists celebrated the autumn harvest with a feast of thanks.

After this land became a nation, Congress recommended a day of thanksgiving for the whole country. George Washington suggested Nov. 26 as Thanksgiving Day.

(I believe ole George knew the Lions were scheduled to play the Cowboys that day.)

Then in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln asked all Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of thanksgiving.

In 1941, Congress made the fourth Thursday of November the official federal holiday.

As you sit down to give thanks with loved ones, please remember the brave men and women fighting this war on terror, those who will not be home for Thanksgiving.

And remember those recently killed in the “terrorist” attack at Fort Hood in Texas.

To all these brave soldiers, I say thank you and God bless you for your sacrifice.

May our Heavenly Father bless you and yours this Thanksgiving holiday. And may God bless America – the beacon of hope, the greatest nation on the earth, and the envy of the world!

Robin L. Quillon is the publisher of The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at rquillon@tribdem.com.

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