Our Thanksgiving table last year right in the midst of the supper. More pics below...
The first official proclamation of Thanksgiving was issued by the town council of Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1676, and set aside the twentieth of June of that year as "a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for his Goodness and Favour" in the midst of the hardships of founding a home in the New World.
United States president Abraham Lincoln, following the precedent of a number of states, designated a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863.
More on Thanksgiving: Wikipedia, The Writer's Almanac
Our Thanksgiving table last year with friends in Costa Rica - a mix of local flora and ingredients we packed down from the Northeast.
Final setting up..
Guests start looking for their seat names...
During...
After....
Veronica & Keith's Handmade Chic 
Before & After: A Bathroom Goes From Pinky Peach to Sleek and Chic
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Hunslet Dinner Plate
A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
Easy Pitcher Cocktail Recipe: Strawberry Basil Margaritas
Comments (9)
Here's an interesting alternate version of Thanksgiving's origins:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/opinion/26davis.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Happy American Thanksgiving!
According to NPR this morning, the Pilgrims landed at what is now Provincetown, not Plymouth Rock. ; )
Fascinating how the American myths of Thanksgiving are perpetuated (see: everything in the "fact" blurb). I was just reading Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving” and, as a Canadian, it astonished me how *detailed* the (really obviously) fake and self-serving myths are. I've only recently been made aware of the American grade school practice of "First Thanksgiving" pageants that are reenacted every year. Up here, no one takes seriously the American version of the "origin" of Thanksgiving. It's really weird to see that myth on AT!
astraldream, are you telling me it's a myth that Abraham Lincoln designated a national day of thanksgiving in 1863?
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm
You can read Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation at the link above- it's a VERY moving speech and well worth reading today. In our family, my mom always read it to everyone before dinner. :)
http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/2009/11/ignore-ugly-lies-and-brutality-buried.html
Here is another take on the origin of Thanksgiving as a holiday.
Not to be harshing anyone's buzz....Happy Thanksgiving to all my neighbours down south; we could all use a day to think about what we're grateful for. Or just gorge on turkey.
Oh, not the killjoys again... I wish they would just deconstruct themselves into nothingness.
My parents taught us early that the Thanksgiving myth (Pilgrims having a lovely, convivial meal with the Native Americans) was hogwash. For us, it's simply a day to gather as a family and be grateful for the opportunity.
Just hand over the cornbread stuffing, see, and no one gets hurt...