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Starting a New/Old Tradition...
This Thanksgiving think about all that you are grateful for in your lives. From that place of gratefulness, think about how you could spread that feeling around your neighborhood or town. Here is an inspirational story from a reader that may give you and your family some ideas! Blessings to you all. - Editors.
Anything For Thanksgiving?
An article in the September issue of Spirit Living about scarecrows, Halloween and Thanksgiving brought back memories. I remembered when I was a scarecrow in 1941, living in Nassau County, New York. As youngsters we didn’t go “trick or treating” at Halloween. Instead, the village had a “Rag-a-Muffin” parade at Thanksgiving time when everyone dressed in costumes and marched. My mother made me baggy pants and a shirt that we we sewed leaves all over the outfit. I wore my outfit with a straw hat.
Here I am in 1941 wearing my scarecrow costume!
The other children and I would go around the neighborhood asking “Anything for Thanksgiving?” We might get an apple, cookies or candy for ourselves, but we would also get some canned food which we brought to the parade. There were always a couple of floats and one contained the collected food. Even along the parade route, people would give something to the costumed children who would shout “Anything for Thanksgiving?” The food was later divided into boxes containing a whole Thanksgiving dinner for needy families.
Now, fast forward fifty years, when my youngest daughter Elaine blessed us with grandson, Brandon. When Brandon was two years old, my husband decided to erect a scarecrow on our front lawn during Halloween. After nailing a cross bar to a tall piece of lumber, we stuffed a pair of his workpants and a flannel shirt with straw and he attached it to the frame. Since he was six foot seven inches, it was quite a tall scarecrow! The head was a plastic pumpkin with a face and topped with a straw hat. Once our scarecrow was finished we tied to our lamp post. The wood post, clothes, hat and head were saved and used again, year after year.
Six years later, Brandon’s sister Emily was born and had her picture taken with the tall scarecrow. She enjoys helping stuff his clothes with paper at this yearly family event. (We use paper now instead of straw because, when wet, the paper was more easily removed than straw.)
A few years ago, our local school district, started having a Halloween Extravaganza. The students in the middle schools, would decorate, wear costumes and give out candy to young children after school on the day before Halloween. The only fee charged is a can of food or other non-perishable food item. The collected food goes to needy families for Thanksgiving Dinner.
Elaine is co-coordinator of the area’s Girl Scout Service Unit. Last year she handed a box to each leader to take back to their troop meeting. The Girl Scouts then decorated and filled the boxes with enough non-perishable food to make a Thanksgiving dinner for a family(excluding the turkey.) The troop with the best decorated box gets a prize. When all the leaders brought their troops boxes to the Service Unit meeting the week before Thanksgiving, a winner was picked. Luckily, a husband with a pickup truck and another with a Suburban were there. They loaded the boxes in their vehicles and brought them to our house.
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My living room floor was filled with great looking decorated boxes including one that looked like the Mayflower and four that were turkeys. The boxes were picked up three days later by a truck from the Lighthouse Missions. There they would check each box, adding something if necessary and top it off with a turkey before delivering them to needy families in the area. They use any extra food in their “soup kitchen” for Thanksgiving dinner.
When I photographed all the boxes on my living room floor, I felt my heart warmof the boxes, especially those that contained some “extras” -- coloring books and crayons, tablecloths, decorations and flowers, to help make some family’s Thanksgiving dinner special.
Here is a particularly imaginative box made to look like a roasted turkey!
So please, in the spirit of the Holidays, if a local group of school children, scouts, a church or an organization that collects food for the needy or serves holiday dinners, should ask you “Anything for Thanksgiving?” Donate something knowing you will be blessed with the knowledge that you made someone happy. And I’d like to suggest that you tuck in your love and gratitude among the offerings it will also make you feel special and warm your heart.
© 2008 Agnes Blyseth Rysdyk
Let us know how you spent Thanksgiving! editors@spiritliving.org.
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