I wish to offer a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers.

I will be busy most of the day for I do most of the major cooking for the family….on the menu my super turkey, my great mac and cheese, green peas, green bean casserole, yams, both types of cranberry sauce, yeast rolls and apple pie….and anything else I decide is needed.

Hopefully my health issues do not get in the way of our day and meal.

As long as it is a holiday how about a little history while you take a break from your duties on this day?

We celebrate the bounty of the day….but where and when did it become official?

The Mother of Thanksgiving….

Sarah Josepha Hale was a whirlwind of energy from New Hampshire who wrote cookbooks, novels, poetry, edited the most popular women’s magazine of her era, Godey’s Lady’s Book, and still had time to promote various causes, from the abolition of slavery to women’s education, to preserving such historical sites as George Washington’s residence at Mount Vernon, according to History and the National Women’s History Museum.

Her most recognizable literary work today is the children’s poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” There’s some controversy as to who actually wrote the poem, but Hale was the first to publish it in her “Poems for Our Children” in 1830, per Modern Farmer. For years she used her magazine as a platform to promote the idea of a national Thanksgiving celebration. At the time, it was only a regional holiday mainly celebrated in the Northeast and on various dates, depending on the state. It took a war and a forward-thinking president to make her dream of a unified celebration a reality.

Her most recognizable literary work today is the children’s poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” There’s some controversy as to who actually wrote the poem, but Hale was the first to publish it in her “Poems for Our Children” in 1830, per Modern Farmer. For years she used her magazine as a platform to promote the idea of a national Thanksgiving celebration. At the time, it was only a regional holiday mainly celebrated in the Northeast and on various dates, depending on the state. It took a war and a forward-thinking president to make her dream of a unified celebration a reality.

Besides using her magazine to promote Thanksgiving, Sarah Josepha Hale had tirelessly written letters to every governor in the United States, asking them to help create a unified Thanksgiving celebration, according to “Lady Editor: Sarah Josepha Hale and the Making of the Modern American Woman.” These efforts made some inroads, with more than half the states and territories in the country having an official Thanksgiving Day by 1854, per History. She also wrote to Presidents Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan when they each held the nation’s highest office, per NPR. The answer was always the same, although Pierce’s answer was the most terse: “I perceive serious objections,” he wrote her.

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/1443019/how-woman-became-mother-of-thanksgiving-sarah-hale/

So if you want to thank the woman who worked diligently to help make this an official holiday so we all can gives thanks for our many blessings then Sarah Josepha Hale is your gal.

I do hope that everyone has a great day filled with food, fun and family….about possibly football.

Take a few moments to reflect on all the things you have in your life to be thankful for and enjoy the day.

Since I will be very busy this will be my only post for the day.

Please be well and be safe….

Until tomorrow and what is fondly called Black Friday….have a great one.

 

chuq