Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is a time for celebration and family gathering all over the country.  Many people have different ways of celebrating the Thanksgiving holidays and there are many family tradition built around this family day.

In order to fully understand the Thanksgiving holiday, there has to be some understanding of what the significance of the day is and why we celebrate it.  There are many teachings in school about Thanksgiving.  In the United States Thanksgiving has a religious history as a day to take the time out to give thanks to God for all of the blessings the family has received.  Today the Thanksgiving celebration is considered a secular one.

One of the biggest and most important traditions for Thanksgiving is the food.  Thanksgiving dinner usually rotates between the homes of family members.  The hosting family will usually do most of the cooking with the visiting family members bringing their signature dishes.

Some of the most common dishes to be served at a Thanksgiving dinner are turkey, ham, dressing, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce.  These are just the staple dishes, there are many other dishes that are served and the dishes may vary between families.  There are also usually many different desserts to choose from.  Cooking of this big mean usually begins a couple of days before the event.

Another American Thanksgiving tradition is watching football after or even during the big meal.  It is usually the men in the family will be in one part of the house watching the football games while the women talk and catch up in another part of the hosting home.

Thanksgiving is sometimes one of the only times during the year that the whole family will congregate together and so this tends to be a favorite holiday and truly worthy of a big celebration.