Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Well, if Christmas gets an "Eve" the night before, why not Thanksgiving, too?  So instead of a stocking hung by the chimney with care, it's a turkey defrosting in the sink with a heave-ho.  Whaddaya think?  I love Thanksgiving, though; it is so refreshingly authentic.  It's hard to commercialize this holiday, which is a wonderful thing in my book.  Well, I suppose the fact that Black Friday sales are creeping back to Thanksgiving night are an encroachment of sorts.   There were even some rock-bottom sales that started last Sunday.  I can't complain about that since I took advantage of it and got Skylanders Giants Starter Kit for $49 at Target!!  Santa loves a bargain!

At least the Thanksgiving holiday is still what it was intended to be - a time for gratitude and reflection.  What are you particularly grateful for this year?  The list is endless for so many of us, myself included.  A friend and I were just talking about how inexpensive it is to cook the traditional Thanksgiving meal.  What could possibly beat turkey for 35 cents per pound?  In fact, I bought a 15-pound turkey for just under six dollars!  Heck, you could spent that on a latte at Starbucks!  Plus it's all so healthy, at least until you get to dessert anyway.  Since we are eating like the Pilgrims once did, we can't include processed food, another blessing!  I bet they didn't have whipped cream either, but we can make an exception for that!

Today we headed downtown to the lawn in front of the Governor's Mansion.  It has become our tradition to see the annual Tax Tribute Ceremony between the Governor and Virginia's Native American tribes, the Mattaponi, the Pamunkey and others.  Yes, you really do see a dead deer and goose hanging from a long pole.  There was pottery and other beautiful handmade works as well.  And the people holding up the pole are real Virginia Indians in full dress, not costumes from Party City.  It's an amazing event to witness.  Although it is visually so interesting to experience, its history is even more so.

This ceremony has been going on every year since 1677 as a treaty between the then-royal governor of Virginia and the tribes.  Amazingly enough, it is the oldest continuing nation-to-nation ceremony in the US.  This was the 335th ceremony, never missing a year in all that time.  It began as a means for the Native American tribes to offer an annual token as a "tribute" in lieu of paying taxes.  ( I bet there are lots of us who would love to set up a similar arrangement!)

Governor McDonnell announced there will soon be a tribute from the Commonwealth to Virginia Indians!  In fact, there will be a new monument right on the Capitol grounds.  Hallelujah!  It's about time we pay tribute to them for a change!

Happy Thanksgiving to YOU!!  I am grateful that you read this far!  :)  Thank you, dear reader!



LibbY