Happy Thanksgiving

Today is my favorite day of celebration in all the year-- the day Americans call, "THANKSGIVING." Greg asked me why it is my favorite. The first thing that came to mind was that I have no bad memories of a Thanksgiving...not one. But I dismissed that thought with a rue smile. That's not why I like it at all. And it isn't about the food either (although I would pay a great many shekels to taste my mother's stuffing today, I can tell you...and the cranberry sauce...and the her second-to-none pumpkin pie with extra spices and molasses, with thick whipped cream on the top...mmmm.)

What makes Thanksgiving the best holiday of the year? It may be the reflection of our blessings. It may be the gratitude we feel for the ones who came before us; a profound gratitude felt deep in the soul for their sacrifices so that we might live as we now do. It may be the joy that we feel in being together, rejoicing in the knowldege that our family feels the same, that we are united by our love and belief and gratitude.

Ah! And that is it. I realized that I had been saying "it may be because WE, or OUR." I used the group tense. And why? Because Thanksgiving, more than other holidays, is about family. Yes, Christmas is about family. Yes, on Independence Day we celebrate the immense gratitude we feel for our family and our country--but it is not quite the same. Thanksgiving is informal in my home, and formal all the same. but it is relaxing! (I can see my mother saying in her head right now that I think it's relaxing because I never had to do it all by myself.) But it is relaxing! Thanksgiving is peaceful. There is no tension, there is no feeling of having to get stuff done, it is first a time to say Thanks and Praise be to the Lord. Thanks for the health and condition of our family, thanks for the blessed and bountiful land of promise in which we live, and thanks for the knowledge of these things and the truths that bind us as a family.

These things being said, it is on to the traditional Mildenstein family thanksgiving in which I must participate, even from the opposite side of the earth. There are two things that must be done on Thanksgiving Day in my home: 1) my father must make a speech involving the Revolutionary War, America, and Abraham Lincoln--especially involving Lincoln. (My brother Matt and I usually refer to it as the Abraham Lincoln speech, and even when my dad swears it wont be the topic of his remarks it somehow always is.)and 2) Three candy-corns adorn each table setting, and each of us shares the three things we are most grateful for this year.

First--my own Lincoln speech!Actually, it's his own words taken from his "Proclamation of Thanksgiving," issued October 3, 1863. If you'll notice the date, he ordered a national day of thanksgiving in the middle of the blackness of the Civil War. Even in that dark time, he lists many things that they had to be thankful for. Read the speech, you can find it on google rather easily. I brought a copy of it to Thanksgiving dinner here at the center and passed it around. One phrase particularly caught my eye. He said, "I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the Untited states, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to observe...a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficient Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." I was so happy to realize that he'd included all American citizens, even if they're somewhere else at the time. That means me too! Huzzah! And now...

MY THREE CORNS:

1. I am grateful for my heritage. Grateful for my ancestry and my family line, grateful to be an inheritor of the privileges and honors of that family, and most especially--deeply grateful that I have had the honor of being the daughter of my parents, Keith and Deborah.

2. I am grateful for the restoration of the fullness of the everlasting gospel. To have the power and the work, the glory and the truth upon the earth once more is unfathomable. And that I am a part of it! This is surely a blessing above any and all else; for I know that there is none other way mankind can be saved but through Jesus Christ, Messiah, the Son of God, and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is his true and living gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ lives! He stands at the head of this church and has from the beginning of time. He directs it. and it is through his power and authority that all things are and will be. I know it! And I am certain of the truth of it, for the holy spirit has made witness to my heart. The restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world has done more for my family and myself than I can ever know, and I am thankful for that on this day.

3. Finally, I am grateful for the Book of Mormon. Through my study in the Old and New testaments and their histories and factions of late I have come to truly appreciate what a gem the Book of Mormon is. It is simple. It is clear. It is prophetic, it is profound. I believe that man can grow closer to Jesus Christ by reading and understanding and applying its principles than by the words of any other book. I have a strong testimony that it was revealed and translated by and through the power of God, and that his servants have brought it to light once more. I am certain that it is a witness of the divinity and power of Jesus Christ--tailored to the needs of people today,now; and that it was recorded for the peoples of today's world to understand. It is pure. It is precious. It is holy. And it is the most incredible record of an ancient people that I have ever heard of. (And by coincidence it is freely available for anyone to read: http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bm/contents )

And so, on this festive occasion, it is my joy to wish you the very happiest of Thanksgivings. May your gratitude outshine the deliciousness of the food you'll eat, and may any shopping you may do on the morrow be limited (or in the least, inexpensive. You'll thank me for it later.)

Laila Tov! (Goodnight!)

--R