NOVEMBER 26, 2025

Welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of The Observations.  There will be no further publication until December 1, so that I might spend time with my family.  Please accept my best wishes for all of you and your families at this very special time of year.  May God Bless us all.

“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.”

–Oscar Wilde

“ALMIGHTY God, who hast blessed the earth that it should be fruitful and bring forth whatsoever is needful for the life of man, and hast commanded us to work with quietness, and eat our own bread; Bless the labours of the husbandman, and grant such seasonable weather that we may gather in the fruits of the earth, and ever rejoice in thy goodness, to the praise of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

–Book of Common Prayer (1928)

“There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.”

–O. Henry

“If you think about a Thanksgiving dinner, it’s really like making a large chicken.”

–Ina Garten

“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.”

–Erma Bombeck

“Over and over I marvel at the blessings of my life: Each year has grown better than the last.”

–Lawrence Welk

Thursday, November 27, is Thanksgiving Day.  It is a uniquely American holiday

The very first Thanksgiving was held at Berkeley Plantation in Virginia, on December 4, 1619.  Men who had suffered the difficulties of the sea voyage from England to the Virginia colony knelt in prayer as their first act in the New World.  They gave thanks to Almighty God for delivering them safely to this wilderness.  Some four hundred (400) years later, that first Thanksgiving is still celebrated and commemorated here in Virginia.

Of course uninformed Yankees still spread the lie that Squanto and the Massachusetts Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving.  Even the “new math” recognizes that 1619 occurred two (2) years before 1621.  Yet year in and year out, the Pilgrims get all the glory.  Sigh.

While Presidents from Washington forward often issued proclamations of thanks to God for his blessings upon our country, the first official national Thanksgiving proclamation was given by President Lincoln on August 3, 1863, setting August 6 as a national day of Thanksgiving, during the throes of The Late Unpleasantness.  America was engaged in a titanic struggle, and Lincoln sought the unification of all under Providence.  The President’s Proclamation read, in part:

“Now, therefore, be it known that I do set apart Thursday, the 6th day of August next, to be observed as a day for national thanksgiving, praise, and prayer, and I invite the people of the United States to assemble on that occasion in their customary places of worship and in the forms approved by their own consciences render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for the wonderful things He has done in the nation’s behalf and invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger which has produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion, to change the hearts of the insurgents, to guide the counsels of the Government with wisdom adequate to so great a national emergency, and to visit with tender care and consolation throughout the length and breadth of our land all those who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles, and sieges, have been brought to suffer in mind, body, or estate, and finally to lead the whole nation through the paths of repentance and submission to the divine will back to the perfect enjoyment of union and fraternal peace.”

Thanksgiving occurred on various dates until 1941, when Congress designated November’s fourth Thursday as a set date, which we celebrate today.  This official act codified President Roosevelt’s 1938 Proclamation which designated November 24 as America’s official day of Thanksgiving.  That Proclamation, issued during the Great Depression, read:

“Our Fathers set aside such a day as they hewed a nation from the primeval forest. The observance was consecrated when George Washington issued a Thanksgiving proclamation in the first year of his presidency. Abraham Lincoln set apart ‘a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.’ Thus from our earliest recorded history, Americans have thanked God for their blessings. In our deepest natures, in our very souls, we, like all mankind since the earliest origin of mankind, turn to God in time of trouble and in time of happiness. ‘In God We Trust.’  For the blessings which have been ours during the present year we have ample cause to be thankful.  Our lands have yielded a goodly harvest, and the toiler in shop and mill receives a more just return for his labor.  We have cherished and preserved our democracy.  We have lived in peace and understanding with our neighbors and have seen the world escape the impending disaster of a general war.  In the time of our fortune it is fitting that we offer prayers for unfortunate people in other lands who are in dire distress at this our Thanksgiving Season.  Let us remember them in our families and our churches when, on the day appointed, we offer our thanks to Almighty God. May we by our way of living merit the continuance of His goodness.”

In my lifetime, no President invoked more the Founders, our country’s mission and history, than did Ronald Reagan.  A great man, who sought guidance from divine Providence in tackling problems that others said could never be solved, he embodied the spirit of the colonists, Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt, in his own Thanksgiving Proclamations, some of which are excerpted below:

1981

“Thanksgiving has become a day when Americans extend a helping hand to the less fortunate. Long before there was a government welfare program, this spirit of voluntary giving was ingrained in the American character. Americans have always understood that, truly, one must give in order to receive. This should be a day of giving as well as a day of thanks . . . .”

1982

“I have always believed that this anointed land was set apart in an uncommon way, that a divine plan placed this great continent here between the oceans to be found by people from every corner of the Earth who had a special love of faith and freedom. Our pioneers asked that He would work His will in our daily lives so America would be a land of morality, fairness, and freedom . . . .”

1984

“This year we can be especially thankful that real gratitude to God is inscribed, not in proclamations of government, but in the hearts of all our people who come from every race, culture, and creed on the face of the Earth. And as we pause to give thanks for our many gifts, let us be tempered by humility and by compassion for those in need, and let us reaffirm through prayer and action our determination to share our bounty with those less fortunate . . . .”

1986

“One of the most inspiring portrayals of American history is that of George Washington on his knees in the snow at Valley Forge. That moving image personifies and testifies to our Founders’ dependence upon Divine Providence during the darkest hours of our Revolutionary struggle. It was then — when our mettle as a Nation was tested most severely — that the Sovereign and Judge of nations heard our plea and came to our assistance in the form of aid from France. Thereupon General Washington immediately called for a special day of thanksgiving among his troops . . .

Today let us take heart from the noble example of our first President. Let us pause from our many activities to give thanks to almighty God for our bountiful harvests and abundant freedoms. . . . And let us ever be mindful of the faith and spiritual values that have made our Nation great and that alone can keep us great. . . .”

1988

“Thanksgiving Day summons every American to pause in the midst of activity, however necessary and valuable, to give simple and humble thanks to God. This gracious gratitude is the “service” of which Washington spoke. . .

People from every race, culture, and creed on the face of the Earth now inhabit this land. Their presence illuminates the basic yearning for freedom, peace, and prosperity that has always been the spirit of the New World . . . .”

Despite the meme of the daily newsfeed from Washington and New York, and the utter incompetence emanating from our federal government, we are blessed to be able to gather with friends and family, and to celebrate and give thanks for all our blessings. 

 We still live in the greatest country ever to grace the Earth’s face.  And despite problems that may seem daunting, we have within our power to reclaim and assert all that is decent and good about our country, our history, and our lives. 

Moreover, we are not facing the privations and struggles that our forebears faced on their arrival in the New World.  We are not beset by the possibility of starvation, hostility from American Indians, or the harshness of the elements.  We are not isolated more than a year’s travel from our homes.  We are home. 

Americans need to live our lives, and be grateful for our blessings, including living in the freest, strongest, most prosperous society to ever exist on this Earth.  Let us keep our faith, remember where we came from and realize that with God’s help, we can achieve everything with His Grace.

Please remember the purpose of this day, and keep it close to your hearts.   May God Bless us, each and every one.  May God always Bless this, our country, the last best hope for man on his Earth.  Happy Thanksgiving!

GFK