Why Thanksgiving Is My Best Holiday

By: Dr. Sharon Rasa

Yes, I’ve always loved Christmas too.  Growing up in a modest family, our Christmas’s were often centered around our church family and a chance to participate as an Angel or Sheppard in the living Nativity.  With 4 siblings, the presents were piled high and my mom always made the best egg nog in town.

Yet, it’s Thanksgiving that I love most.  My memories of mom placing the turkey in the oven, preparing the homemade stuffing together the night before and the family prayer as we sat to a table so beautiful it would take your breath away.

Then my Mom became sick and couldn’t quite muster the strength to get the turkey in the oven and some years passed that are so hazy in my mind….it’s as if they didn’t even exist.

Ten years forward, Thanksgiving1985, my 6 year old son and I were spending Thanksgiving in Disney.  For those who have been there you know that once you step on Disney property….you leave your cares behind.  Each moment is filled with castles and characters and parades and palaces from around the world.  For many, it’s the only chance they will ever have to visit Germany, France or Holland. It’s truly magical.

When the phone rang and my brother was calling from New Jersey, it completely disrupted my blissfulness.  In a moment I switched from childlike wonder to a place I’ve only gone once in my life and that was an internal hell where every cell in my body screamed NOOOOOOO PLEASE DON’T LET THIS BE TRUE!!!!!! when I heard my brother’s words….”Daddy’s dead!.”

I clearly recall the Thanksgiving that followed the year after.  I was in the kitchen alone aching for a connection; a voice, a touch, a sound or the smell of my father’s aftershave.

There was only silence.

The following year, my son and I decided to winter in Vermont and arrived late October for the season. As Thanksgiving approached….I could feel a sense of dread, great sadness and an ache for the early days. I looked at my son and I knew he deserved something more.

I called the local family shelter.  I asked for the director. “Director”, I said, “Do you have a family there….maybe a mom and dad with kids who are down on their luck this year and maybe would like to share Thanksgiving with me and my son?”  He replied, “In fact, we do. Tom lost his job and Mary has cancer and they haven’t been able to meet their medical bills. They have two great kids and we’ve been keeping them a float while they get their life straightened out”.  I replied, “Great….I’ll pick them up at 2PM.”

Then I called the local School for Advanced International Studies and asked if they had any students who would not be going home for the holiday.  I found two doctors, one from Brazil and one from Argentina who had never even celebrated Thanksgiving and they eagerly said they would love to come.

I invited my only two friends in Vermont and we gathered for a holiday that is forever etched in my heart.  My son read them the story of the pilgrims of Plymouth colony and how they suffered through a devastating winter in which nearly half their number died.  Without the help of the Wampanoag Indians, all would have perished. And, then we began with a prayer.  Tom and Mary gave thanks for being able to keep their family together despite their hardship, the Brazil doctor gave thanks for America and the chance to understand our tradition, my son gave thanks for our Thanksgiving family we had gathered and I bowed my head with a grateful heart for the chance to celebrate life, bounty, humankind and resilience for isn’t that what we learned from the early settlers?

That despite all odds, plagues, weather, loss and despair…..they found comfort in their new friends the Indians who offered them the teachings of this new land…our America.  Thanksgiving will always be my favorite holiday.  It embodies all that I know to be true for humankind.  We are kind, giving, helpful, resilient and strong in our faith.  We are inherently good and we strive to be better.  We love our families, our friends and our neighbors and we will always offer our help to someone less fortunate.  That’s who we are at our core.  It’s my favorite holiday because it gives us all a chance to embrace being both “thankful” and “giving,” not only for each toward each other but also toward ourselves.