I sincerely hope that every one of our readers in the United States had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. It is one day that anyone can, (and nearly everyone does), enjoy. No matter what their background or Creed, I have yet to meet a family that does not use the day to gather, share food and celebrate life together.
No matter how hard a hate-filled a few try to tear down the tradition,it isn’t working; everyone I have ever known likes Thanksgiving day.
I know atheists who have a big feast with family and friends, so it doesn’t have to be a religious holiday. And every [Native] American Indian family that I know gather as well. They do not see it as a symbol of attempted genocide, but a celebration of family and life.
Although many, even the newest to America, embrace the traditional servings, (i.e., turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, etc.), a great number serve their own ethnic foods, or add them to the menu. On my mother’s side, several pockets of the family still serve pasta or other Italian dishes along with the turkey. [For the story of my non-Italian father going to meet the family at Thanksgiving dinner 1945, see “The Element of Surprise”, my post from last December.
We Americans usually win over even the most reluctant foreign visitor with the ambience and foods of Thanksgiving. Even the hardest-core anti-American snob usually softens with the first taste of pie. If nothing else does the trick, pecan pie will.
The only other holiday that seems to transcend all ethnic differences is The New Year’s celebration.
Yes, Chinese celebrate their New Year, Jews observe Rosh Hashanah, the people from India observe different New Year holidays depending on their home region. Muslims, Sikhs and Tamils,( among many others), celebrate the New Year according to differing calendars, but I have yet to hear of any of them not also celebrating traditional New Year’s Eve (December 31st), and/or New Year’s Day, (January 1st).
I have a confession.
This has a sneaky way for me to lead up to a RANT:
Please don’t say :
“HAPPY NEW YEAR’S!”
Granted, it is New Year’s Eve, it may be a New Year’s celebration,
but you want to wish people joyful time in the upcoming Earth’s rotation around the Sun, with which we measure our lives; in other words, a year. One year.
“Happy New Year!” Right? If you say, “Happy New Year’s”, I will have to ask you, “The New Year’s WHAT?”
“Happy New Year’s DAY”? “Happy New Year’s celebration”? Both of those seem pretty limiting.
“Happy New YEARS”? (It can only be a new one once, one at a time).
So, you can see that “Happy New Year’s!” make no sense.
It’s “Happy New Year!”
Now you will be ready next month!
This has been a Public service Announcement.
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I do not believe I have come across anyone who has said ” Happy New Year’s” it’s always been New Year.
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A friend of mine from Wales was so excited a few years ago when she decided to visit NYC during Thanksgiving. She was so thrilled to get to experience Thanksgiving here and be able to watch The Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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I would think it was regional for where I live now, (since they have unique ways of expressing themselves at times), but I have heard it on TV.
Yes,I really love to see foreign visitors or newcomers after their first Thanksgiving.I usually ask them howit was , and their eyes always light up!
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Well said.
I have an anecdote about Thanksgiving. I no longer recall when this occurred (but probably 15 years ago or so) or what my reason for calling. At any rate, I had some need to contact customer service at some entity — could have been banking, or something financial… also possible it was about a purchase.
So I’m on the phone and some point in the conversation, I express my appreciation that they are open (to help customers) on Thanksgiving Day. Without skipping a beat, the accented representative replies. “Oh, that’s only an American holiday, but you’re welcome anyway.”
No longer do I recall what accent she had, so I cannot guess [now] which country she was in.
But it did strike home that — even though a few other cultures share in this aspect of the holiday season, Thanksgiving began as a uniquely American observance.
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Yes,Jeff. In fact,I have a customer service story, as well.
I had an ongoing problem with a computer and the service rep was in India. It was the afternoon(American time) the day before Thanksgiving. All was going well, except he said that he had trouble getting American info or a place open in America, and that he was going to try the next day, as he was going to try to get information out from there, because they close for the weekend in the U.S. I told him that we would have to wait until Monday, because it was a holiday the nest day and it went through Friday. He had never heard of Thanksgiving, and was curious. I had to give him a history and cultural lesson. He thought it was a great idea! (This is not the fellow with whom I am still friends.) He seemed so enthusiastic, I wonder how many people he told?
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As the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants, I agree that the notion of a day of thanks is easy for people of all nations and faiths to accept. The thought of showing one’s gratefulness for blessings is universal, and it doesn’t matter what foods cover the table. The people gathered around it become like family.
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Yes, my grandparents fell in love with Thanksgiving right off the boat, literally!
I’d love to know what was on your family’s Thanksgiving table, Patty!
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Dad didn’t like turkey, so we usually had a pot roast. We usually had rice, broccoli, and radishes, which were staples in our house. Mom’s sisters used to send us care packages full of Japanese food, which we ate on New Year’s Eve. There were no Asian food markets around back then.
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Lovely! Thanks.
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Thanksgiving was always one of our quieter holidays. My older siblings always celebrated with their in-laws (since they frequently came to our house on Christmas). Once church and dinner were done, my dad would settle in to watch the Lions get beaten, then go hunting. My mom and I would play cards.
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