Thanks Action Day

So literally, translated, yesterday was Day of Thanks Action. (In an executive decision made by the adminstrators of this blog, Thanksgiving with hitherforth be called Thanks Action Day.) All my students asked me if I was eating chicken, and I had to correct them and say "actually, its turkey" and whimsical talk of cold crisp days seen through chilled windows while the family sits down to cider and yams was lost on their tropical holidayers mind-set as much as talking about pilgrams and religious freedom was perplexing for them.

And did you know that the first Thanks Action Day celebration in the Americas was actually done by the Spanish Explorer Vazquez de Coronado in the early 1500s? Although it was not a feast, but rather a communion service, it is one of the first recorded public gathering in America centered on the act of giving thanks.

And while we arent celebrating Thanks Action Day quite yet (that is in the works for next Wednesday and yes I, the diabetic, am in charge of all the desserts), its still easy to be thankful for my family, friends and all the things that I have to be thankful for. And I am also thankful for the ability to be thankful in a thanks-action-day sort of way and be planning to go to the beach this weekend.

Yet, among all the benefits of living in the tropics and that my tan that is becoming more grecian every minute, it is still hard not to feel a pang of loneliness and a little homesickness this time of year. And even though we have our own little celebration, there just a part of me that wishes I could be states-side for Thanks Action Day. I hope that your Thanks Action Day was full of family, friends and tangible reminders of what Thanks Action Day is is all about (and as my Dad and I agreed yesterday, football and bloated-ness are included on that list.)