Originally posted on November 29, 2017

When I was a young child on Thanksgiving, we always went to my Hungarian grandparents’ farm for a family dinner. It was on a dirt country road in northern Indiana, and the closest house was almost a half-mile away. It was heated by a coal stove in the living room and a large wood-fired range in the kitchen; fuel for both was kept in a wood-shed off the kitchen. My cousin and I always had fun exploring and hiding throughout the house, including the wood-shed and the creamery, which was also attached. We loved the old featherbeds. The only drawback was that there wasn’t indoor plumbing and you had to use the outhouse, which was a cold walk from the house.

Every year my mother, my grandmother, and my two aunts would get together and plan on who would cook the turkey, the ham, the vegetables, and the pies (usually pumpkin and mincemeat); my aunts would try to limit the meal to that, but every year my grandmother would go against them and in addition make chicken paprikash, Hungarian stuffed cabbage, and apple strudel (“for the grandkids”). It was a feast that could have fed the twelve of us many times over.

My entire extended family was struggling financially in those days – the early 1950s, but we felt very fortunate on Thanksgiving. The turkey was a gift that was given to employees by the factory where my uncle worked, the ham was from my grandfather’s smokehouse, and the vegetables had been grown in our gardens. The only store-bought items would have been sweet potatoes and cranberries. My uncle would make our gratitude explicit in his prayer before the meal by giving a long list of things we had received throughout the year. This was very fitting, for when Jesus was faced with feeding the multitude with five loaves and two fish, the first thing He did was to give thanks. Nevertheless, as a child, I always thought that my uncle’s prayer would never end and worried that the food would get cold.

Looking back today I only feel thankful for those Thanksgivings. As a holiday Thanksgiving is American in origin as opposed to Biblical, but it is a holiday that we as Christians should fully endorse – and maybe expand upon. Not only should we give thanks for things we have received, but also we should give thanks for our blessings, the biggest of which is God’s loving grace.

You can read about Jesus feeding the multitude in Mark 6:38-44, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim