{"id":1741854,"date":"2022-11-17T07:32:24","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T12:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1741854"},"modified":"2022-11-17T07:32:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T12:32:29","slug":"dont-just-eat-your-way-through-thanksgiving-practice-these-5-things-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dont-just-eat-your-way-through-thanksgiving-practice-these-5-things-instead\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Just Eat Your Way Through Thanksgiving, Practice These 5 Things Instead"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdont-just-eat-your-way-through-thanksgiving-practice-these-5-things-instead%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1741854&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Americans are really good at sucking the true meaning out of holidays. We turn Memorial Day into an excuse to consume alcohol, Christmas into a months-long spending spree, and Thanksgiving into \u201cTurkey Day.\u201d There\u2019s nothing wrong with enjoying the various festivities associated with special days on the calendar, but sometimes it\u2019s good to ask, Charlie Brown style, what it\u2019s all about. If you have lost sight of the true meaning of Thanksgiving \u2014 and even if you haven\u2019t \u2014 here are five ways to regain and keep the proper focus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Remember the Pilgrims <\/p>\n<p>If you are a recent graduate of America\u2019s public schools, you may never have been taught about the first Thanksgiving. The best account comes from William Bradford himself in his eyewitness history, \u201cOf Plymouth Plantation.\u201d Bradford was the long-serving governor of the Plymouth colony, and his book is the source of most of our treasured stories about the Pilgrims, Massasoit, Squanto, Myles Standish, the Mayflower Compact, and all the rest.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you have never read it, I recommend a version <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Plymouth-Plantation-1620-1647-William-Bradford\/dp\/0394438957\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">such as this one<\/a> that maintains Bradford\u2019s original language while using updated spelling for easier reading. But if you don\u2019t have time to get through Bradford\u2019s full history, at least take a few moments on Thanksgiving Day <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/colonial-america\/pilgrims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to read a summary<\/a>. If you have children (and even if you don\u2019t), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/First-Thanksgiving-Picture-Puffin-Books\/dp\/0698113926\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">this is a lovely picture book version<\/a>. Better yet, assign the kids to research and narrate or act out the story themselves, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bqOZ5MnRAR0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brady Bunch style<\/a> (they will really learn it this way). Whatever you do, don\u2019t carve your Thanksgiving turkey without taking a few moments to reflect on why you are having one.<\/p>\n<p> Practice Thankfulness <\/p>\n<p>Find ways, in the run-up to Thanksgiving, to remind yourself to be thankful. One possibility is to embark on a conscious regimen of prayer, journaling, Bible reading, or acts of service during the month of November. Another is to spend time on Thanksgiving Day actually thinking about your blessings. My husband and I have long had the tradition, before Thanksgiving dinner, of going around the table and asking everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, to name at least one thing for which they\u2019re thankful. (Pro tip: Do this before you serve the meal, so the food doesn\u2019t get cold!)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you are having a large gathering with multiple tables, you might suggest that each table share their answers among themselves (appoint a leader to facilitate). Alternatively, as your guests arrive and enjoy the pre-meal conversation, have them write one of their blessings on a small, decorative piece of paper (perhaps the kids can prepare Thanksgiving-themed cutouts for this in advance). Then, during the meal, the host can pull the pieces of paper out of a basket and read them out loud.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Invite the Stranger <\/p>\n<p>By \u201cstranger,\u201d I don\u2019t mean a literal stranger but someone in your circle that you would not normally socialize with: a coworker, neighbor, acquaintance from church, or even the nice lady who checks you out every week<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People often prioritize style over substance during the holidays, so here are some tips to help you celebrate a more purposeful Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":736,"featured_media":1741857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1741854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/736"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1741854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1741857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1741854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1741854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1741854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}