Thanks(giving) to The Lady Editor

One of the best things on television is the History Channel. Tonight, after our traditional Junk Food night (no real cooking the night before Thanksgiving), we are watching the history of Thanksgiving. Pretty cool stuff. I'm sure the Puritans would be shocked at our interpretation of their somber festival. It was facinating to learn how New Englanders spread the tradition as they spread out in the growing young United States.

By the way, in the 19th century, they served a whole lot more food than we do even today. Take a look at History Channel website to see how unbelieveably huge the typical Thanksgiving meal was. Then again, they danced the night away to popular folk songs, instead of parking themselves on the couch watching football on TV, so they could burn some of those calories.

My favorite part of the documentary is the story of how Sarah Hale, widowed homemaker who published the largest ladies journal of the time, essentially browbeat governers North and South, as well as Abraham Lincoln, into declaring a single, national Thanksgiving holiday. For Lincoln, it was a move to heal the country, but no doubt is was Ms. Hale who was the driving force to establishing our uniquely American holiday. So thanks(giving) to "The Lady Editor" for her persistence!