Thanksgiving
Shattering the myth of the first Thanksgiving
The Wampanoags shared the gifts of the land. The colonists responded with greed and ingratitude.
by Jane McBride
Gratitude rush
Greeting people on Sunday mornings, I’m fueled by thankfulness for their presence.
Corporate retailers can't just close for Black Friday. But co-ops can.
It’s all over my Facebook newsfeed: some retail stores are bucking the trend and staying closed for Thanksgiving Day, and people—Christians and atheists, conservatives and liberals—are applauding them for it.
Learning to give thanks
How is thankfulness engendered? By giving thanks in all circumstances.
Duty and delight
I cherish Thanksgiving for its cultural institutionalization of the practice of gratitude. And because there are no gifts and few cards.
Thanksgiving contradictions: Confessions of a volunteer
It’s almost Thanksgiving, and soon my church in New York City will be serving turkey with all the trimmings to over 400 people. I play a major role in this volunteer effort and sometimes I feel quite virtuous. At last, I tell myself, I’m learning how to feel useful during a holiday that is emotionally fraught for many. But sometimes the annual meal looks less like a joyful act of holiday giving than a thinly disguised act of “slumming.” Those of us serving the meal will be almost uniformly white, after all, while those being served will be mostly black and Hispanic. After the meal is over, the “out-of-towners” will go home and eat healthier, more gourmet Thanksgiving meals.