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Giving Thanks

For the last several years I have approached Thanksgiving with guilt. It all started in my 5th grade classroom after Thanksgiving one year. Each of us shared how we celebrated and what we ate. One of my students didn’t want to share. We all cajoled and encouraged.

Finally he said:

“We didn’t eat.  We never eat on Thanksgiving. My mom cooks a big meal with lots of food and it smells great — then we package it up and take it to someone who needs it more then we do.  Mom says that’s so we never forget to be grateful everyday.  After we deliver the food, we go home and play games and sing and enjoy our family.  We don’t turn on the TV or the radio. At bedtime dad reads us Bible stories.  It was really hard to go to sleep because I was so hungry, but in the morning mom fixed pancakes for breakfast and we told God how grateful we were to have food.”

They weren’t exactly a Gucci family, either.  Seven kids, two parents and grandma in a three bedroom house.  Whenever I need a lesson in gratefulness I think of them.

Quilly is the pseudonym of Charlene L. Amsden, who lives on The Big Island in Hawaii. When she is not hanging out with Amoeba, she is likely teaching or sewing. Or she could be cooking, taking photographs, or even writing. But if she's not doing any of that, she's probably on Facebook or tinkering with her blog.

10 Comments

  3. OH! And I came over to wish you a verrrrrrry happy Thanksgiving Quilly… and OC… (wonder where my brain is sometimes…)

  4. Happy Turkey Day! (Will you be posting any recipes for today?)

    While I’m a big fan of feeding the poor, I don’t think I could give away fresh stuffing. The turkey, maybe, the veggies, certainly. But that moist delicious stuffing? I think I could fight dirty just to keep it.

  6. That is quite a story. I always think of the story you told about giving the homeless man your nice comforter.

  8. I must be getting old because the story fogged my glasses. I just love stories of kind people who dare to do somethinmjg different from the rest. Thanks so much for sharing the story.

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