It’s late November, that time of year where we all give thanks – and eat a lot of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, gravy and, of course, cranberry sauce. In my book, nothing says “holiday” like cranberry sauce!
Certainly we all know the story of the Pilgrims and their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to Plymouth Rock in the late fall of 1620. How, after a terrible winter with many deaths, they planted corn, squash, and beans, built houses and common buildings, fished for cod and bass and traded with the Native Americans. Then, as summer turned to fall, how they, in a “special manner rejoiced together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors,” as one of them wrote.
That’s the first Thanksgiving the way we all envision it from our social studies classes.
But, how did this humble celebration of thanks for their survival and newfound abundance turn into a huge federal holiday that results in two days off work and a long weekend for many people, as well as the busiest travel days of the year and some of the busiest shopping days? I’m guessing the Pilgrims didn’t have that in mind in 1621.
For that information we turn to the Center for Legislative Archives in Washington, D.C. According to them, the first Congress of the United States passed a resolution on Sept. 28, 1789, that asked President George Washington to recommend a day of thanksgiving. President Washington then issued a proclamation naming Thursday, Nov. 26, 1789 as a “Day of Publick Thanksgivin.”
But it was just a one-time deal. Later presidents issued their own Thanksgiving proclamations, but the dates and months changed. Then in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation set the official date for Thanksgiving as the last Thursday of November.
But we all know that money talks, and coming out of the Great Depression, the calendar worked out that Thanksgiving 1939 fell on the last day of the month. That meant that there would only be 24 days for the Christmas shopping season, and there were concerns this could hurt the economy.
Proactively, President Franklin D. Roosevelt took care of the problem by issuing a presidential proclamation that moved Thanksgiving to the second-to-last Thursday of November, thereby giving an extra week to the shopping season. However, not everyone was on board with this change – 16 of the 48 states refused to accept it and continued with Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November.
This split-Thanksgiving celebration went on until 1941. Late that year Congress came to an agreement that established Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November – which took into account those years when November had five Thursdays. President Roosevelt signed the resolution on Dec. 26, 1941, the day after Christmas. Ever since then, the fourth Thursday in November has been the federal Thanksgiving Day holiday, and each of our personal opportunities to reflect on all the things for which we’re thankful.
And, in the spirit of Thanksgiving 2024, I must first say I’m thankful to Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics. Two weeks ago I wrote a column on these pages asking Penn State Athletics to please let us know how they would distribute tickets for the almost-guaranteed home playoff football game.
Lo and behold, the next day, Wednesday, Nov. 13, an email showed up in my inbox – and the inboxes of thousands of other Penn State season ticket holders – telling us how to reserve our College Football Playoff first round tickets! Our regular seats no less! And, it explained that we would have the opportunity to purchase our regular-season parking spot for the game as well.
Now, I know after-the-fact that my column had nothing to do with the release of this information. It had been in the works for some time and was guided by the CFP. Nonetheless, giving credit where credit is due, I have questioned some Penn State Athletics decisions on these pages before, and want to go on record as thanking them for getting this information out there early so we could all make our plans to be in Beaver Stadium the weekend before Christmas.
But, more importantly, as I’m thinking about what I’m thankful for this holiday season, I, and I assume everybody reading this, want to give thanks for our families. Families that mean different things to different people. We have the family we’re born into, and then the many families we create ourselves as we go through our lives.
I recently became even more thankful for my immediate family – my wife and two children – after watching a brand new movie.
Last Friday, Netflix released a movie simply titled “Joy.” It is based on the events from 1968 to 1978 that resulted in the birth of Louise Joy Brown on July 25, 1978 – the world’s first test-tube baby. It follows a young nurse who met a visionary physiologist, who both then convince an innovative surgeon and OB-GYN to help as they create the process for in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
As both our children are IVF babies this movie was fascinating to our family, especially our daughter and son. Having gone through IVF 30 years ago, my wife and I were familiar with the process, and knew some of the history – the reproductive endocrinologist who did our IVFs had training with the Louise Brown team – but knew very little of the details of how it was invented, and had not thought much about the social ramifications.
The movie – as with most “based on true event” type films – might take poetic license here or there, but was a surprisingly straightforward account given the heart-tugging material. It gave my wife, my kids and me a new-found respect and joy for the pioneers who created the IVF procedure.
The opposition they faced from religion, the media, the medical field and the government was something we were unaware of at the time. These events took place in England and it wasn’t something we were following as kids – most likely because the ‘60s and ‘70s were a tumultuous time here in the U.S.
The movie reframed something for which we have been extremely grateful and thankful for the last three decades, and made us all the more thankful that these pioneers had the courage and ability to move science ahead for the millions of people who can’t get pregnant without medical intervention. For those of us who have been there, it was enlightening.
So, this Thanksgiving, if you get the chance to sit down and have turkey and all the fixings with family – however that family looks – and right before you go out and do some Black Friday shopping, I hope you have the wonderful opportunity to think about the things you are thankful for, and what joy they bring to your life. Happy Thanksgiving!
