My Virtual Reading Room

(from the Edwardian Society FB group)
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A three-year-old's report on Thanksgiving: "I didn't like the turkey, but I liked the bread he ate."

(Art Linkletter)

Thanksgiving menu: roast turkey, candied yams, and pickled relatives.

(Arnold H. Glasgow)

Some neighbors of my grandparents' gave them a pumpkin pie as a holiday gift. As lovely as the gesture was, it was clear from the first bite that the pie tasted bad. It was so inedible that my grandmother had to throw it away.

Ever gracious and tactful, she still felt obliged to send the neighbors a note. It read: "Thank you very much for the pumpkin pie. Something like that doesn't last very long in our hourse."

(Krista Rose)

The checkout clerk at the supermarket was unusually cheerful even though it was near closing time. "You must have picked up a ton of groceries today," a customer said to the checker.
"How can you stay so pleasant?"

"We can all count our blessings," the clerk replied. "The hardest part of this job is the turkeys and the watermelons. I just thank God that Thanksgiving doesn't come in July."

(L. Proctor)

(all of the above from Reader's Digest: Laughter: The Best Medicine: Holidays)
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(from ScienceAlert, who got it from FeelingGood Tees)

Gratitude expressed as Mad Libs

The Debt

11 Things you can do to have a Thanksgiving in the true spirit of the holiday, from Upworthy

(great info for both kids and adults, check it out)

"If you think you're enlightened, spend a week with your family"

(Ram Daas)

Elizabeth Gilbert

This one never grows old!

Let's give thanks for all the people who we love and need, and who drive us crazy, and who share our weird crazy history, and who always manage to push our buttons, and who we sometimes can't figure out how we could possibly be related to, and who we sometimes can't imagine living without, and who test our hard-won patience, and who make us revert to embarassing old versions of ourselves, and who never (for better or worse) let us forget who we are (or, at least: who we used to be...)

Saved from last year--too crazy not to share :P (aka, if you thought your family gatherings are problematic...I'd heard a couple of good Thanksgiving stories, but this one takes the cake.)
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Dear Miss Manners • My Thanksgiving was ruined by people that my brother allowed in his house.

I told his girlfriend not to bring or cook a turkey, as I had one already there.

I was cooking said bird when she and two others arrived, already stewed to the gills. They took out my bird and threw it over the backyard fence.

I knew their bird was rancid, as I have been trained as a chef. I told my bro not to eat it. He ate it and was very sick for four days.

I ate one bite and wrapped what was left in my napkin. I proceeded to the nearest hospital, where I work, and had it tested. Salmonella, big time. Do you think it was rude of me to do so?
I warned her about her bird. She nearly killed my bro. What can I do?

Gentle Reader •

(1) Check on the neighbors. Even on Thanksgiving, they cannot have expected delivery of an airborne fowl.

(2) Make other plans for Christmas.

...to everyone celebrating today; everyone else, have a great Thursday!

Here's an interesting historical article about the origin and customs of Thanksgiving, from the "Today I Found Out" website:

The many myths surrounding the Piligrims and Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

WE walk on starry fields of white

And do not see the daisies;

For blessings common in our sight

We rarely offer praises.


We sigh for some supreme delight

To crown our lives with splendor,

And quite ignore our daily store

Of pleasures sweet and tender.


( Our cares are bold and push their way... )