By Bonnie Brown

Columnist

Our approaching American holiday, Thanksgiving, is all about food, family, football, and traditions. Not unlike the Pilgrims in 1621 at Plymouth Rock, we look forward to our Thanksgiving feast.

In 1789, George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation and called upon Americans to express thanks for the conclusion of the country’s war for independence. Presidents John Adams and James Madison also designated days of “thanksgiving” during their presidencies.

But it wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. This was in response to Sarah Josepha Hale (author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”) who published editorials and wrote scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents, and other politicians for 36 years to establish the holiday now known as Thanksgiving.

Traditions vary from region to region across the country. If you are from the South, you likely enjoy cornbread dressing. If you are from somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line, it will be bread stuffing with various additives—oysters, sausage, etc.

If you are in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, your turkey may have a cumin and ancho chili paste rub and be served with cayenne-laced gravy. If you are in California, you have bread stuffing, but it’s made with sourdough bread! And instead of green beans, you’ll be eating Brussels sprouts.

My husband Tom, sons Dennis and Jeff, and I would travel to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with my mother, brothers, and their families nearly every year. Mom would make the bread stuffing, cranberry salad and some other side dishes and we’d go to my brother’s house. There, we would find not only turkey but ham and so many other dishes. One that I especially loved was the potato salad—my sister-in-law Shirley makes the best!

My Mississippi-born husband was faced with a cultural shift in the form of bread stuffing. It contains bread, sautéed onion and celery, and butter, flavored with salt, pepper, milk, and sage. Very simple, and yet I haven’t been successful in making it taste like my mom’s. It’s what I grew up with, so of course I love it. My Southern-born, cornbread dressing-eating husband was faced with many different food options and I suspect he was secretly snarfing down antacids throughout the visit.

I’m not certain that the tryptophan in the turkey is solely responsible for the nap that follows such a large meal. I think it’s a combination of anticipating the festivities of the day—busy morning spent cooking and baking, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, dialing in to football games, and the simple fact of over-eating. But naps are a certainty. And there has been lots of laughter about the snoring that ensues. Tom’s Uncle George declared that he only “rested his eyes” and certainly wasn’t snoring. This hypothesis was tested when one of our sons brought out a video recorder to capture snoring that would rattle the rafters!

Whatever your traditions, take a minute to give thanks, to be in harmony with your family, to be mindful of your many blessings. We have so many reasons to be grateful—especially for the leftovers! Regardless of your traditions, make sure you practice an attitude of gratitude, not just at Thanksgiving, but every day.