Thanksgiving Memories

Thanksgiving seems to be the overlooked holiday between Halloween and Christmas. An American Christian holiday, it’s uncomfortable for non-Americans or people who don’t believe in the Christian God. So it’s understandable.

 

However, it is still an important holiday because anyone could still keep the “giving thanks” aspect, since gratitude is always a good thing to celebrate. So I’m going to celebrate giving thanks by sharing a couple of personal stories about Thanksgiving.

 

Pilgrim’s Skit in Second Grade

 

When I was in second grade in Taipei at Bethany Christian School, we learned about the stories of the Pilgrim’s voyage from Europe to the New World.

 

This is how I remember it. Maybe you learned it differently. That’s OK. Let’s agree to disagree on how the story actually went.

 

They had hardships on the ship with disease and death. Then they got to land and faced a harsh winter with more disease and death. As those who survived recovered, they started to build houses, raise crops, and have friendships with the local natives. Then they finally had a good season of crops and celebrated with their neighbors.

 

After learning these stories, we acted out a skit to portray them. We dressed up in Pilgrim’s outfits, or at least paper copies of them. Some dressed up in Native American garb.

 

Back in those days, we called them Indians, because originally the explorers thought they were traveling to the Indies on the Pacific Ocean. But instead, they were what we now call Native Americans.

 

So the Pilgrims and the Native Americans there shared a meal and were grateful to God for the bountiful crop season and the veritable plethora of food and drink and other blessings of life.

 

Thanksgiving and the Railroad Tracks

 

On Thanksgiving in Taiwan, three other missionary families with my family would all get together taking turns hosting. One year we were at the family who lived in Taichung. While the meal was being prepped, the kids played outside.

 

Railroad tracks lie behind the house about 50 yards away. We were warned not to play near them, as there were always trains going back and forth among them. But, of course, we ignored that warning, figuring that we would hear the train’s whistle and have plenty of time to get out of the way.

 

Boy did we get in trouble when the parents found out we were on the tracks! Fortunately, no one was ever injured, but we learned that was the wrong thing to do, and there was good reason to listen to our parents.

 

Thanksgiving In Oklahoma

 

Since Illinois was too far away to make it there for Thanksgiving, we ended up staying at home, which was cool because we got to play outside in the cool weather on brown grass. We would watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in our jammies while eating breakfast, Mom would make the meal and would enlist our help from time to time, After the parade would be the NFL games. Then we would eat the meal when it was ready while watching the game, or try to.

 

So please share this on social media and also share your own Thanksgiving memory. If you want the latest post emailed to you, please subscribe to this blog. I will give you a free gift; “The Reflective Musician Manifesto.”

 

Thanks. Guitar Shane.