Happy Thanksgiving!

Friends of Padre Steve’s World,

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I see that some of you are already in the kitchen working hard and let me tell you everything smells delicious. If I wasn’t already spending time at a friends house today I’d ask if I could come over, please save me some pie, and if you have any sweet potatoes left, save some for me. God how I love sweet potatoes.

Today is the one day a year that we set aside to be thankful, not that we shouldn’t at least try to be thankful the other 364 days of the year, but one out of 365 isn’t bad, well actually it is. we’d have to be thankful at least 73 days in order to be at the Mendoza Line, but  I digress…

Many of us will pray and ask a a blessing on our gatherings, and like Milo Bloom I have taken literally the command to “pray for our food,” which is why despite being a Priest I am seldom asked to say grace at any gatherings. I never will forget the first time that I prayed for the Turkey and it’s surviving family members, it was a hoot. If looks could kill the daggers emanating from Judy’s eyes would have killed me dead. Since then I have continued my antics at the Thanksgiving table and I still love the look she gives me, and it makes my heart glad because in thirty-three years of marriage she hasn’t had me killed. That my friends is something to be thankful for.

Mark Twain I think correctly provided us with a short history of the holiday with these words:

“Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for — annually, not oftener — if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man’s side, consequently on the Lord’s side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments.”

So, with that in mind and the reality of what we may face in the coming years, I do want to thank you my loyal readers for staying with me over the past year. Likewise I wish you the all best today and in the coming year.

Peace,

Padre Steve+