Thanks, Giving
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBERutuj-qKPtKYwOqTC8edXVx9IfTIOVoAp6LZiswAzPlalID7-0rHLAoo5WnXepQkqOHFdct1cLIv4yTKfCnDtbX9kuaiQLqv8O6kDqxaKwJinoLn0CLPdljnmaFsdAmeEwx8lWoJ-smnnAoDWcSiN4Ot_X6f1tyPySU8ruZ2XOdd4XS3YA/s320/thanksgiving2015.jpg)
While it’s the celebration following a successful harvest held by the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe in 1621 that provides most of the imagery around the holiday, Thanksgiving didn’t become a national observance until much later. Incredibly, it wasn’t marked as a national observance until 1863—right in the middle of this nation’s Civil War, and at a time when, arguably, there was little for which to be thankful. Indeed, President Abraham Lincoln, in his proclamation regarding the observance, called on all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” We could surely stand to have some of that these days. Thanksgiving has been called a “uniquely American” holiday—and so, even in a year in which there has been what seems to be an unprecedented amount of disruption, frustration, stress, discomfort and loss—there r