Nice Thanksgiving

Nothing extraordinary this year.  No trips or cruises or long vacations.  We just decided to stay put and make food.  Jane showed up with her usual truck-load of goodies.  Miguel and Jose also joined us for dinner.  Holly cooked a turkey (donated by Jose) and it came out darn-near perfect!  Super delicious dinner and pleasant day.   

Jose and Miguel are from Honduras and didn’t really have any idea what Thanksgiving was all about.  So I explained a little.  Thanksgiving has become a lot more meaningful to me since I’ve discovered one of my ancestors was on the Mayflower.  The actual story of the pilgrims and Mayflower and their first year in the New World is really quite grim and gritty.  You can read more about it here:  Cousin on the Mayflower

Also, Miguel asked, “Por Que Pavo?”  (Why Turkey?).  I didn’t know the answer.  So we asked Alexa.  Turns out that turkey is native only to north America.  So the pilgrims had never seen this bird before, much less know how to cook and eat it.  So the native American Indians showed them how.  Although, there’s no record of the pilgrims eating Turkey at the very first Thanksgiving celebration.  Maybe they did.  Maybe they didn’t.  Who knows?  But it soon Thanksgiving became our nation’s first holiday, and turkey became the first traditional dish.