Keizertimes., November 15, 2019, Page 4, Image 4

PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 15, 2019
‘Tis the season ...
to count our blessings
BY LAUREN MURPHY
Of No Adults Allowed
Thanksgiving is the best holiday. Despite
being overlooked for the more exciting December
celebrations, Thanksgiving will always be my
favorite.
Why, you ask, would your favorite holiday be
one that most of the world doesn’t even celebrate?
A very good question, young reader, allow me to
explain.
One of the reasons Thanksgiving is my favorite
holiday is because it’s one of the few original parts of
American culture. While most of our holidays came
over on the Mayfl ower (a ship that brought the fi rst
pilgrims to “New World”) Thanksgiving is something
we picked up when we moved here.
There is some debate about where Thanksgiving
comes from.
Some people think it started in 1619 as a religious
observance, others think it started 1621 as a large
dinner party.
The story goes that the winter of 1620 was
extremely hard on the pilgrims. They probably would
not have made it through, but Native Americans
gave them food and supplies.
At the end of the harvest in 1621, the Pilgrims
found themselves with an abundance of food (to
have an abundance is to have more than you need).
The pilgrims invited the Native Americans over for
the fi rst Thanksgiving dinner, because nothing says,
Build a rafter of turkeys
for your table this year
into a triangle.
Step three: Glue the beak
onto the head. Draw eyes
on with a sharpie and we’re
almost done.
The fi nal step is to fi nd a
pretty leaf that looks like a
turkey tail and put it in the
clothes pin.
Did you make a turkey?
Send us a picture at noadults@
keizertimes.com
What side of the turkey has
the most feathers?
The outside
I’ve collected a drawer of
leftovers from the crafts I’ve
done over the past years.
I wanted to reuse them to
create this craft because
buying craft supplies is
expensive.
Digging
through
the
drawer I found clothes pins,
construction paper, glue and
sharpies.
Step one: trace the cap of
the glue stick on brown paper
to make the head. Carefully
cut the circle out and glue it
to the top of clothes pin.
Step two: fold a yellow
piece of construction paper
and cut it along the crease
NO
ADULTS
ALLOWED
“thank you for keeping us alive last winter,” like a
nice home-cooked meal.
Another reason I love Thanksgiving is because
it’s one of the simplest holidays. My family tends to
do things low key, but Thanksgiving is particularly
relaxed.
We read Black Friday ads, watch football and
eat enough food to put us into a food coma. Some
years we spend it with extended family but, usually,
it’s just the four of us.
The patriotism and laid back atmosphere are
nice; but the real reason Thanksgiving is my favorite
holiday is because, in the midst of all the hustle and
bustle every year, I fi nd one quiet moment to count
my blessings.
• Abraham
Lincoln
proclaimed
Thanksgiving a
national holiday
on October 3,
1863.
• The fi rst
Thanksgiving
was celebrated
in 1621 over a three-day harvest festival. It included
50 Pilgrims, 90 Wampanoag Indians, and lasted
three days. It is believed by historians that only fi ve
women were present.
• Venison, duck, goose, oysters, lobster, eel, and
fi sh were likely served, alongside pumpkins and
cranberries.
• About 46 million turkeys are cooked for
Thanksgiving each year.
• Canada also celebrates Thanksgiving– in October.
• An estimated 50 million pumpkin pies are eaten
on Thanksgiving.
• Male turkeys are called gobblers.
• Turkeys can run up to 25 miles per hour.
• Turkeys sleep in trees.
• Turkeys have two stomachs.
• Mashed potatoes are the most popular
Thanksgiving side dish.
• There are four cities in the United States named
Turkey: Turkey, Arizona; Turkey, Texas; Turkey,
Louisiana; and Turkey, North Carolina.