Thanksgiving Lesson From Linus

 

Did you catch “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” on PBS this week? The most memorable line was from Linus’ moment at the table, thanking God and the settlers for the first Thanksgiving. The Peanuts gang included a colorful mixed bag of guests, including a special dog, a bird, and that famous piano music. No social justice message or censorship of history, just a simple prayer.

I vaguely remember as we approached Thanksgiving in grade school one year, we were asked to dress up as either a pilgrim or an Indian. I dug out shiny buckle-looking earrings from my aunt’s jewelry box and clipped them to my loafers. We drew pictures of turkeys with crayons by outlining our hands and got bags of candy corn. We learned about that famous first dinner and the sharing of food between two cultures. In spite of all that is going on in the world, we are the only country with this one very special holiday. Millions will take a journey just to share a drumstick with those they love.

I hope we can share it in the same spirit of Linus.

Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels!

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  1. MDHahn Coolidge
    MDHahn
    @MDHahn

    Well said! Happy Thanksgiving! 

    I love Thanksgiving. It’s all about gratitude for the blessings of life and celebration of family and food. For us, it has always been an opportunity to thank God for the miracle of living in this wonderful country with such a wonderful family.

    • #1
  2. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    How to do Thanksgiving correctly:

    Charlie Brown Thanksgiving meal | Charlie brown thanksgiving, Thanksgiving  recipes, Food

    • #2
  3. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    We will be hosting, as we have for many years (except for last year). We feel so fortunate to have a small group blessing our home with their presence. Happy Thanksgiving, FSC!

    • #3
  4. MDHahn Coolidge
    MDHahn
    @MDHahn

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    How to do Thanksgiving correctly:

    Charlie Brown Thanksgiving meal | Charlie brown thanksgiving, Thanksgivingrecipes, Food

    But where’s the candy corn?

    • #4
  5. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    MDHahn (View Comment):

    Well said! Happy Thanksgiving!

    I love Thanksgiving. It’s all about gratitude for the blessings of life and celebration of family and food. For us, it has always been an opportunity to thank God for the miracle of living in this wonderful country with such a wonderful family.

    Also well said!  You have the Linus spirit!

    • #5
  6. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    We will be hosting, as we have for many years (except for last year). We feel so fortunate to have a small group blessing our home with their presence. Happy Thanksgiving, FSC!

    That sounds great – what are you serving?  So many blessings for you this year making it through all your treatments.  God bless!

    • #6
  7. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    • #7
  8. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    We will be hosting, as we have for many years (except for last year). We feel so fortunate to have a small group blessing our home with their presence. Happy Thanksgiving, FSC!

    That sounds great – what are you serving? So many blessings for you this year making it through all your treatments. God bless!

    We keep it very simple: turkey, stuffing (made with matzah), green beans free of mushroom soup, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, one apple pie and one pumpkin pie. And wonderful people!

    • #8
  9. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    We will be hosting, as we have for many years (except for last year). We feel so fortunate to have a small group blessing our home with their presence. Happy Thanksgiving, FSC!

    That sounds great – what are you serving? So many blessings for you this year making it through all your treatments. God bless!

    We keep it very simple: turkey, stuffing (made with matzah), green beans free of mushroom soup, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, one apple pie and one pumpkin pie. And wonderful people!

    Yum – two thumbs up – it’s similar to ours, minus the apple pie and sweet potatoes instead of mashed – I’ll be using gluten free bread for my stuffing.  Can you share your stuffing recipe ? (it’s my favorite part of the dinner – my sister and I used to fight over it, and when I was asked to go baste the turkey, I’d snitch pieces out of the pan).

    • #9
  10. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    We will be hosting, as we have for many years (except for last year). We feel so fortunate to have a small group blessing our home with their presence. Happy Thanksgiving, FSC!

    That sounds great – what are you serving? So many blessings for you this year making it through all your treatments. God bless!

    We keep it very simple: turkey, stuffing (made with matzah), green beans free of mushroom soup, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, one apple pie and one pumpkin pie. And wonderful people!

    Yum – two thumbs up – it’s similar to ours, minus the apple pie and sweet potatoes instead of mashed – I’ll be using gluten free bread for my stuffing. Can you share your stuffing recipe ? (it’s my favorite part of the dinner – my sister and I used to fight over it, and when I was asked to go baste the turkey, I’d snitch pieces out of the pan).

    It’s probably like most stuffing recipes. One large stalk of celery, 1 large carrot, 1 small onion, chopped mushrooms, a little ketchup, sauteed with seasoned salt; when cooked through, add cream of mushroom  chicken soup and let it simmer a bit. Then we get one or two boxes of unsalted matzah, break up the big pieces into a size you prefer into a bowl. Pour boiling water over it and quickly stir the matzah so all the pieces have a chance to soften but not get mushy, and pour off  the water. Then mix the matzah with your sauteed food. We often do the sauteed stuff the day before (I’ll be doing that this afternoon) and add it to the softened matzah tomorrow morning before Jerry stuffs it into the turkey just before he puts the turkey in the oven. Voila!

    • #10
  11. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    • #11
  12. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    My husband won’t eat mine. I love mine, with the cooked cranberries and dried tart cherries added in at the last. It’s yummy!

    • #12
  13. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    My husband won’t eat mine. I love mine, with the cooked cranberries and dried tart cherries added in at the last. It’s yummy!

    I add pomegranate and candied ginger bits and orange peel. I don’t know why nobody likes it.

    • #13
  14. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    You better, being from Wisconsin and all.  

    • #14
  15. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    My husband won’t eat mine. I love mine, with the cooked cranberries and dried tart cherries added in at the last. It’s yummy!

    I add pomegranate and candied ginger bits and orange peel. I don’t know why nobody likes it.

    Well . . . I’m not sure about the candied ginger, but it sounds terrif! Next time you come for Thanksgiving, bring some along!

    • #15
  16. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    My husband won’t eat mine. I love mine, with the cooked cranberries and dried tart cherries added in at the last. It’s yummy!

    wow – I never thought of cherries! Orange marmalade is a nice addition too.

    • #16
  17. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    My husband won’t eat mine. I love mine, with the cooked cranberries and dried tart cherries added in at the last. It’s yummy!

    I add pomegranate and candied ginger bits and orange peel. I don’t know why nobody likes it.

    Give them the jellied cranberry sauce from a can – make it the Dollar General brand! Haha!

    • #17
  18. GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms Reagan
    GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms
    @GLDIII

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    My husband won’t eat mine. I love mine, with the cooked cranberries and dried tart cherries added in at the last. It’s yummy!

    After I boil down the cranberries I typically add mandarin orange slices cut in thirds and walnut. It is more loved by my siblings and there broods than the canned and cranberry sauce my mom use to serve. I will do two 1 lb bags (I halve the sugar and use Splenda for all the type II’s in the family) and will not have a lot left over for the next days left overs.

    • #18
  19. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    MDHahn (View Comment):

    Well said! Happy Thanksgiving!

    I love Thanksgiving. It’s all about gratitude for the blessings of life and celebration of family and food. For us, it has always been an opportunity to thank God for the miracle of living in this wonderful country with such a wonderful family.

    Thanksgiving is the most purely (though non-specific) religious holiday that we have.   At least sometimes I’ve convinced myself of that. Other times I’m not so sure.

    • #19
  20. The Scarecrow Thatcher
    The Scarecrow
    @TheScarecrow

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Give them the jellied cranberry sauce from a can – make it the Dollar General brand! Haha!

    This is genius, if you really want to remember what Thanksgiving was like as a child. We all talk about preserving tradition; what if you could revisit the Thanksgiving meal you had as a child, when the tradition began for you?

    This will be much more fun to talk about tomorrow than Covid.

    • #20
  21. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    My husband won’t eat mine. I love mine, with the cooked cranberries and dried tart cherries added in at the last. It’s yummy!

    I add pomegranate and candied ginger bits and orange peel. I don’t know why nobody likes it.

    I do a much lighter, fresh version, really a relish rather than a sauce.

    • #21
  22. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    My husband won’t eat mine. I love mine, with the cooked cranberries and dried tart cherries added in at the last. It’s yummy!

    I add pomegranate and candied ginger bits and orange peel. I don’t know why nobody likes it.

    That sounds amazing. I used pomegranate juice for the liquid for my cranberry sauce one year. It was the best I’ve ever made. 

    • #22
  23. HankRhody Freelance Philosopher Contributor
    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher
    @HankRhody

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    I prioritize foods that are instantly recognizable in animation.

    • #23
  24. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    I prioritize foods that are instantly recognizable in animation.

    That reminds me of when we had a couple of visiting researchers from Australia who wondered why American comics and cartoons had no plant characters. It was all animals.  They showed me some Australian examples.  They must not have been memorable comic characters, because I don’t remember anything about them other than that they were indeed plants. 

    On the plus side, these guys left me their remaining supply of A4 paper when they left. It lasted quite a while, and when it ran out I never found an American supplier to replace it.  It was handy to have, because we had so many international researchers and students who came with wordprocessing manuscripts formatted for A4 paper, and it was a nuisance to reformat them for 8 1/2 x 11.  But most of them must have learned to deal with it, because in my last years at work there wasn’t much demand for the A sizes. Either that, or there got to be less and less call to print these manuscripts. 

    • #24
  25. HankRhody Freelance Philosopher Contributor
    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher
    @HankRhody

    The Scarecrow (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Give them the jellied cranberry sauce from a can – make it the Dollar General brand! Haha!

    This is genius, if you really want to remember what Thanksgiving was like as a child. We all talk about preserving tradition; what if you could revisit the Thanksgiving meal you had as a child, when the tradition began for you?

    This will be much more fun to talk about tomorrow than Covid.

    It really doesn’t count as cranberry sauce if you can’t see the lines from the tin.

    That’s what makes Drew’s so special; he takes the time to carve those lines in by hand.

    • #25
  26. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    We will be hosting, as we have for many years (except for last year). We feel so fortunate to have a small group blessing our home with their presence. Happy Thanksgiving, FSC!

    That sounds great – what are you serving? So many blessings for you this year making it through all your treatments. God bless!

    We keep it very simple: turkey, stuffing (made with matzah), green beans free of mushroom soup, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, one apple pie and one pumpkin pie. And wonderful people!

    Yum – two thumbs up – it’s similar to ours, minus the apple pie and sweet potatoes instead of mashed – I’ll be using gluten free bread for my stuffing. Can you share your stuffing recipe ? (it’s my favorite part of the dinner – my sister and I used to fight over it, and when I was asked to go baste the turkey, I’d snitch pieces out of the pan).

    It’s probably like most stuffing recipes. One large stalk of celery, 1 large carrot, 1 small onion, chopped mushrooms, a little ketchup, sauteed with seasoned salt; when cooked through, add cream of mushroom chicken soup and let it simmer a bit. Then we get one or two boxes of unsalted matzah, break up the big pieces into a size you prefer into a bowl. Pour boiling water over it and quickly stir the matzah so all the pieces have a chance to soften but not get mushy, and pour off the water. Then mix the matzah with your sauteed food. We often do the sauteed stuff the day before (I’ll be doing that this afternoon) and add it to the softened matzah tomorrow morning before Jerry stuffs it into the turkey just before he puts the turkey in the oven. Voila!

    The wife makes stuffing the old-fashioned way – with a bag of Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Classic Stuffing.

    • #26
  27. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    The Scarecrow (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Give them the jellied cranberry sauce from a can – make it the Dollar General brand! Haha!

    This is genius, if you really want to remember what Thanksgiving was like as a child. We all talk about preserving tradition; what if you could revisit the Thanksgiving meal you had as a child, when the tradition began for you?

    This will be much more fun to talk about tomorrow than Covid.

    Tradition was always my aunt’s coleslaw – being Ukrainian.  She made the best.

    • #27
  28. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    MarciN (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I always try to make cranberry sauce, but nobody eats it except me.

    My husband won’t eat mine. I love mine, with the cooked cranberries and dried tart cherries added in at the last. It’s yummy!

    I add pomegranate and candied ginger bits and orange peel. I don’t know why nobody likes it.

    That sounds amazing. I used pomegranate juice for the liquid for my cranberry sauce one year. It was the best I’ve ever made.

    Great idea and heart healthy!

    • #28
  29. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

       It bugs me that not once do they even try to spread the butter all the way to the edge.  I mean, the edges are the most important part to slather, the middle is already going to be soft.  What was that dumb Woodstock thinking?  He always messes up. 

    • #29
  30. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Skyler (View Comment):

    It bugs me that not once do they even try to spread the butter all the way to the edge. I mean, the edges are the most important part to slather, the middle is already going to be soft. What was that dumb Woodstock thinking? He always messes up.

    Picking on a little bird and cute dog?  Check your energy dude! PS Thank you for reminding me his name is Woodstock – I told my husband it was Wishbone!!

    • #30
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