I love this time of year. Most of us have so much to be thankful for. I really enjoy getting together with the family (most of them). Thanksgiving also brings back a lot of memories. As a child we would all gather at my grandparents where my grandmother had prepared a feast. This was before cell phones, so we actually talked to each other at the table. Before dessert the men would go into the living room to talk and smoke. We youngsters would go outside to play basketball or ride bikes.

The dinner was always served on my grandmother’s Franciscan Apple dishes. They were handed down to me and we still use them on special occasions.

I remember on one November my granddad bought a live turkey. He planned to kill it and serve it for Thanksgiving. By the time Thanksgiving arrived we had all got attached to it and couldn’t do it. So many great memories. I remember the first time my wife fixed dressing. My sister joined us for the meal and was sampling some of the items on the menu. During that time she looked at Dayna and said “this pound cake is delicious.” Dayna looked at her and said “Penny, that is my dressing!” We share this story almost every year and always get a good laugh out of it. Dayna’s dressing has greatly improved! After Penny and her husband moved to New Mexico she decided she would fix turkey and dressing for the very first time. She went to the store and told the butcher she needed a turkey. He asked her how big she wanted, and Penny replied, “there is only three of us so probably a two or three pound one.” He replied, “lady they hatch out bigger than that!” She called our mother to tell her how humiliated she was.

Her experience reminds me of the following story . . .

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store but could not find one big enough for her family. She asked the stock boy, “Do these turkeys get any bigger?” The stock boy answered, “No ma’am, they’re dead.”

—CC—

It’s now time to see how much you really know about Thanksgiving . . .

1Q: In what U.S. town did the first American Thanksgiving take place in 1621?

1. Salem, Massachusetts

2. Jamestown, Virginia

3. Plymouth, Massachusetts

4. Providence, Rhode Island

2Q: Which U.S. President issued the first official presidential turkey pardon and began the annual tradition?

1. Ronald Reagan

2. George H.W. Bush

3. George Washington 4. Jimmy Carter

4. Jimmy Carter

3Q: What is the Guinness World Record for the fastest turkey carving time, set by Paul Kelly of the U.K. in 2009?

1. 1 minute, 39.76 seconds

2. 2 minutes, 28.68 seconds

3. 3 minutes, 19.47 seconds

4. 5 minutes, 22.19 seconds 4Q: What is the

4Q: What is the average number of calories an American consumes on thanksgiving according to the Calorie Control Council?

1. 2,000 to 2,500

2. 3,000 to 4,500

3. 5,500 to 7,000

4. 7,500 to 8,500

5Q: In what year was the meatless alternative for turkey known as Tofurky introduced?

1. 1979

2. 1984

3. 1995

4. 2001

6Q: How many feathers does a mature wild turkey typically have on its body, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?

1. 500 to 750

2. 1,500 to 2,000

3. 5,000 to 6,000

4. 8,000 to 9,000

7Q: How fast can a wild turkey run?

1. up to 10 miles per hour

2. up to 25 miles per hour

3. up to 40 miles per hour

4. up to 50 miles per hour

8Q: How many pounds of glitter are used in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade design each year?

1. 100 pounds

2. 300 pounds

3. 500 pounds

4. 900 pounds

9Q: Which state leads the U.S. in turkey production?

1. Wisconsin

2. Minnesota

3. Alabama

4. North Carolina

Answers at the end of the column

Now for some Thanksgiving humor

Q: If the Pilgrims were alive today, what would they be most famous for?

A. Their age!

Q: Why do pilgrims pants keep falling down?

A. Because their belt buckles are on their hats!

Q: Why did they let the turkey join the band?

A. Because he had the drumsticks

Q: Which side of the turkey has the most feathers?

A.The outside.

Q: Why did the police arrest the turkey?

A. They suspected it of fowl play.

Q: What’s the key to a great Thanksgiving dinner?

A. The turKEY

Q: What did the turkey say before it was roasted?

A. Boy! I’m stuffed! —CC—

Now for my favorite Thanksgiving Poem.

May your stuffing be tasty. May your turkey be plump.

May your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious, and your pies take the prize.

And may your Thanksgiving dinner stay off your thighs.

—CC—

And last of all, with Joe Biden and his socialist followers ruining our country, I wanted to share the following from the Ochiltree Observer by Jim Hudson.

First Dinner

When we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner most of us know that we are celebrating a religious holiday. It is a time to give our deepest thanks for all that we have been given by our lord. If you were awake in elementary school, you

If you were awake in elementary school, you are probably familiar with the story of the Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving. How the recent arrivals to North America joined forces with the natives to prepare a meal from that first harvest.

There is more to that story than was told in grade school. When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock they were bound by a contract to the London Adventures society. That contract set up a communal living arrangement for the Plymouth Colony.

The ship’s stores were the property of every man, woman and child in the colony. Each was given food on an equal basis.

Because no one had to work to be fed, there was very little done in the first year. Crops were not planted, forests were not cleared and only rudimentary shelters were constructed.

There was no private property. All the buildings were communal and the farming implements belonged to everyone.

As that first winter progressed conditions in the colony went from bad to worse. William Bradford recorded in his book, “Of Plymouth Plantation,” that over half the colonists died that winter. “So as there died sometimes two or three a day in the aforesaid time, that of one hundred and odd persons, scarce fifty remained,” wrote Bradford.

Over the next two years Bradford tried to lead his colony to prosperity. Though the Indians taught the colonists how to plant corn and hunt game, the Pilgrims were constantly on the brink of starvation.

Some of the colonists became servants to the Indians. They would cut wood and bring water for a cup full of corn. Others resorted to stealing from the Indians.

Finally, Bradford decided that changes needed to be made in how the colony was organized. He put an end to the communal living and working arrangements. Each family was given a plot of land and was on their own to produce food.

“This had very good success,” Bradford wrote, “for it made all hands industrious, so much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the governor or any other could use.”

What the Pilgrims had discovered was capitalism. They failed while following the maxim, “to each by his need, from each according to his ability,” the socialist manifesto.

When the colonists were free to own property and take care of their own needs the settlement prospered. Bradford said that much of the illness and lethargy that was rampant at Plymouth disappeared once the Pilgrims started working their own land. The colony at Plymouth was never hungry again. The capitalist model was followed by most of the English colonists to the New World.

So, when you celebrate this Thanksgiving, you are only paying respects to the bounty of the Lord, you are also commemorating the birth of capitalism in this country.