Early on Thursday morning I had a remarkable and terrifying dream. I dreamt that I woke up and found that I had been in a coma for the last 40 years and that everything – my wife, my children, every experience, had been nothing but a dream. The dream seemed so real that I woke (for real) in a panic and had to lay there and take my bearings for a moment. The room was predawn dark, but I could dimly see the pictures hanging on the walls. Then I heard the clock in the dining room cuckoo five times. I heard my wife breathing in bed beside me. I thought back through years and mentally reassembled my life and I was overcome with a profound feeling of gratitude.
Thanksgiving is a day when we stop to reflect on the things we are thankful for, at least it should be. Like most holidays, its true intent has been hijacked by other distractions – food, football, and Black Friday shopping. I don’t pay any attention to football and I hate shopping, but the food part of the holiday is pretty important to me. I’m really thankful for the food. Too thankful, probably.
That sobering dream on Thanksgiving morning made me reflect a little more deeply on the things I’ve been blessed with – the things I am truly thankful for. Here are the most obvious ones.
Family. I belong to a wonderful family – past, present, and future. My ancestors were good people (most of them, there are a few scoundrels) and I have a great heritage. My parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and in-law relatives are great and good and I love them. My wife, children and their spouses (those that have them), and my grandchildren are the joy of my life.
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| Family Past - Some of my ancestors. |
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| Family Present. |
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| Family Future. |
Home. Every single day I thank God for my home. I know that I live here because He sent angels to bless me with the home that I longed for and dreamed of. I love every part of this old house, even the parts that are a bit crumbly and don’t work properly. I love the land I’ve been blessed to care for – my gardens, orchard, barn, chickens, all of it. There is no place on earth where I’d rather live (except maybe Tahiti during the months of January and February).
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| The home I love so much - front. |
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| And back. |
Religion. I’m so grateful that my parents embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, joined His church, and raised me in it. The church has blessed me all my life. It has taught me eternal truths and nurtured my spirit. Through the church I have learned to love my Savior and what he has done for me, my family, and all mankind. I love the blessings that living the principles of the gospel and keeping the commandments has brought to me. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in its fullness, with all the ordinances, authority, and covenants, my family can be together for eternity.
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| My Savior. |
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| The temple. |
Country. I live in a great nation – the greatest nation the world has ever known. I’m grateful for the freedom I’ve been blessed with – freedom bought with the blood and through the toil of my ancestors.
World. The world is a miracle. The more I learn of it, the greater my love for it grows. I see the loving hand of the Creator in all the wonderful complexity and beauty of this planet. I’m thankful to live in this beautiful world Heavenly Father created for me.
While preparing our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, I reflected on that first feast held at Plymouth Plantation in 1621. Several of my ancestors, Stephen Hopkins and Richard Warren, were there. I know that the first Thanksgiving has been mythologized to a great extent. The historical debunkers have done their best to point out that the first feast was a harvest celebration held in October, not November, that the “happy relations” with the local natives was more complicated than we were taught, and that the first menu did not look at all like what we presently eat. They ate venison, roast duck, roast goose, clams, eels, white bread, corn bread, leeks, water cress, and salad herbs, with wild plums and dried berries for dessert. There was no turkey, no cranberry sauce, no pumpkin pie. And I say “who cares.” The menu wasn’t really the important part, the cause of their celebration was. They were thankful to be alive and free in a new, somewhat inhospitable land. Many had died in the months since they’d arrived (45 of the 102 people who were aboard the Mayflower died during the winter of 1620-21) and many more would die in the months ahead. The survivors held another feast the following year and repeated it more or less regularly for generations so that in time it became a tradition, first in New England, then in 1863 during the Civil War, by proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, it became a national holiday set on the last Thursday of November, and in 1941 it was changed to the fourth Thursday.
Our Thanksgiving celebration was pretty low key. Stacey had to work and didn’t get home until 3:00 p.m. Hannah and I spent most of the day cooking. Our turkey was fresh, raised by our friends Bob and Nancy Jones. It was small, but there was just three of us and it was plenty for the meal and still lots leftover. Hannah made her favorite sweet potato casserole – the one with pecans and coconut on top. I cooked up two of the little blue Hubbard squash that I grew last summer. Hannah also made the mashed potatoes. I made the gravy. Stacey made the stuffing. For dessert I made a soft gingerbread and lemon sauce. It was all so good. The day ended with a beautiful sunset.
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| Our feast. |
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| Just three of us. |
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| Thanksgiving sunset. |
Our Thanksgiving break from school is long and I’m thankful for that. We had an early dismissal day on Wednesday and we won’t go back until Tuesday because tomorrow is the opening day of deer season and most of the students and teachers wouldn’t come to school anyway. I’m glad for the time off as I have painting orders I need to finish to ship before Christmas.
Miriam arrived home from her Thanksgiving trip to St. George yesterday. Stacey and Hannah picked her up at the Buffalo Airport. We’re glad she's home again. We missed her.
Today we have another reason to celebrate – it’s Hannah’s birthday! She turns 22 today. Stacey made her a cake. We’ll have cake and open gifts this evening. We’re glad Hannah was born and is part of our family!
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| Hannah aged 1 month, 1 year, and 22 years. |
Thanksgiving is past and now we’re officially moving into the Christmas season at our house. We started turning on our outdoor lights on Friday night. We usually start the indoor decorating the day after Thanksgiving, but we waited for Miriam to come home, so we’ll start doing that tomorrow. I think we’re going to have a great Christmas – we always do. Daniel will arrive home from Italy on Saturday, so he’ll be home for the holidays. The Thayns will be with us for Christmas too. With the decorations, the food, the music, and family, it’s going to be wonderful.
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| The Christmas lights are on at our house! |
