What is Thanksgiving to you?

We are less than a week to Thanksgiving, a time that we pause to think about all that we have to be thankful for. In our household Thanksgiving doesn't hold the meaning that it does in many American homes. For me it was all about the Pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower. Landing and establishing a colony in Plymouth Massachusetts. How so many died that first year, but with the help of the native Americans they had a successful harvest, they learned to live off the land and then had so much to be thankful for after that first year. I think of all the struggles that so many generations of Americans have faced as they settled here from places all around the world. This household though holds 3 immigrants, now Americans. The history of the celebration is alien to them. The struggles faced by earlier generations here don't exist for them. Is Thanksgiving any more to them than a day of football and consuming copious amounts of food and drink? Maybe someday it will, but for two recent Ethiopian immigrants they just don't get it at all. Turkey - not a favorite food. Stuffing, well yes they do love it. Vegetables, well they are still kids. Pumpkin pie - well not too appetizing to any of us. Thankful? they are still struggling with loss. Their historical perspective is only 2 years old. For them the best thing about Thanksgiving and the one thing they are thankful for? NO SCHOOL FOR A WEEK! It's a start anyway.
So what am I thankful for? I have family to build new traditions with that will be the foundation for future generations to celebrate what they are thankful for. I love my Irishman - my soul mate, my beautiful Ethiopian children that couldn't be more loved. My older daughters and grandson that now have their own traditions to make, and I have the opportunity to call them all family.