All the Buzz at Honey B Farm: Don't Call It Turkey Day!

Around this time of year, there is a little "pet peeve" that riles up my senses. Every day about a week before Thanksgiving I hear folks on the TV, news shows, radio and even in general conversation call Thanksgiving "Turkey Day". No! This is NOT a day to glorify the American turkey! Ever since 1621, this has been a day to give thanks to God for His many blessings. Like everything else these days, holidays have become so secularized that the original meanings have been lost. Today it seems that people think Thanksgiving is just a day to eat turkey, watch football, and then go shop for early Black Friday specials! It has also become the kickoff for the Christmas season. I truly hope that many of us can set aside this day to reflect on blessings that have been a part of our past year, and spend time in fellowship with family and friends. It doesn't matter if you eat turkey or not. In fact, I am vegetarian and don't eat turkey, and my husband doesn't like turkey (he used to work in a turkey processing plant for Jenny-O turkeys - enough said on that!). It really doesn't matter what you eat on Thanksgiving. Any meal can be a feast if shared with love towards family and friends. To be truly accurate regarding the original Thanksgiving from long ago, a person would have to eat venison, clams, wild duck, boiled pumpkin, and corn hominy. Wild turkey might have been part of the Pilgrim's feast, but historians say that venison and clams and wild duck were the prominent foods at that time and locale. So this business of eating turkey and pumpkin pie and stuffing and green bean casserole for Thanksgiving is a modern thing. People often ask my husband and I what we "do" for Thanksgiving, since we don't eat turkey. I always tell folks that I eat seasonal foods, well prepared. Then I get blank looks. Our menu varies every year (this year my husband has actually requested meatloaf), but I usually include winter squash, cabbage, cranberries, something with pumpkin, and some sort of potato dish. These are all ingredients that are plentiful at this time of year. The markets also have lots of varieties of table grapes at this time, and we especially enjoy the dark black seedless grapes called 'holiday grapes' at our Thanksgiving meal.

About 5 years ago on this blog I also did an article about Thanksgiving (see November 2013 post). I wrote about visiting Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts long ago. Plimoth Plantation is a living history museum/place where the lives of the original Pilgrim settlers is re-enacted. Here is a photo of that place:


Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts

Please join me in my campaign to urge others to quit calling Thanksgiving "Turkey Day" - because the day means so much more than just gorging on turkey!
Along the lines of being thankful, last week our church sponsored a sign stenciling lesson. Those who were interested in learning how to use stencils and paint to make decorative signs came to learn a new skill. I had never used stencils in my life, and I am certainly no artist. but I decided to give it a try! The session was so much fun, and I was able to bring home my "masterpiece" sign. This is what I made - my first attempt at sign making.