I was rather depressed by the weight of advertising telling us that Thanksgiving is all about food and we must all rush out to spend more money on it, until one of my neighbors, Dianna Campagna, gave me a copy of President Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation.
That great man's recognition of cause for thanks in 1863, struggling as he was with civil war, made me think more about what thanksgiving means. So I called some neighbors to ask.
Katherine Morrison tries to carry on her late mother's tradition of welcoming to the table different friends from differing generations.
This year she had a friend of her mother's, a boyhood friend of her husband's, and a friend of her young son's, accompanied by his mother.
CHURCH GROWTH
Katherine is giving special thanks because her church, Washington Street United Methodist, has grown for the first time in 15 years!
BARTLEYS
Stewart and Christine Bartley welcomed Stewart's father from Kentucky and Christine's mother from Sweden, who was pleased with her first experience of the American holiday; she admired the tradition and enjoyed the food.
SHERLOCK RAN
Kevin Sherlock is thankful that all his family are healthy, and that he lived through the 5-mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day.
A DIERCKS DOCTOR
M.J. Atwater and Walt Diercks are thankful that their daughter Gillian has earned her MD and started her internship in New York.