Gratitude 2020

Hello and welcome to the last Saturday of the month here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is November 28th.

Families across our wintery region did their best to get into some holiday spirit this week. Thanksgiving 2020 was a decidedly somber one. Some folks grieved a Thanksgiving void of the usual traditions, while other folks fretted over the insistence on keeping them.

If you're a regular Wannaskan Almanac reader, you know that our family's tradition tends to lean towards bucking traditions. A Facebook memory of our Thanksgiving dinner five years ago showed apple sauce, apple pie, apple crisp, and chili. This year's feast was a 4-course meal that commenced with Cuban black bean soup, followed by a greens salad, then a delicious pork curry with rice that reminded us of my Czech mother-in-law's good cooking, and, for dessert, a pumpkin pie made with a graham cracker crust because hubby does the shopping and despite having a detailed grocery list, sometimes I just gotta roll with whatever he brings home. When I sent The Oldest (who opted to stay at school to finish the term) a snap of our meal, she asked, "Umm...what happened to pizza?"

For us, celebrating holidays without relatives is par for the course. Yes, there have been years when we have joined family (one especially memorable Thanksgiving was at my brother's when it was 60+ F degrees and we were outside in short sleeves). But when your relatives live at least four hours away or across the ocean, most of the time going solo is the most sensible choice. And with seven of us in one household anyway, we're usually pretty good at creating our own entertainment.

This solo celebration also frees up our schedule for another "bucking traditions" family favorite: #OptOutside. Retail company REI started this hashtag trend in 2015 as an alternative to Black Friday. Since that time, we have "opted out" with trips to area parks such as Franz Jevne State Park. One year, we even squeezed in a ski trip at Lutsen.

Every year, there are two things we discuss at our Thanksgiving dinner table. The first is the origins of Thanksgiving. On the one hand, we compare notes on elementary school lessons about pilgrims and Indians celebrating a bountiful harvest of food, camaraderie, and peace. In the other hand, is a heap of problematic issues concerning the history and intention of Thanksgiving including the sticky wicket about the BFF relationship with the Indigenous followed by the break-up that brought generations of disease, displacement, and genocide. As the kids get older, the conversation advances in complexity and thought.

The second topic is, of course, gratitude. As a nation, we try to be grateful, however, 2020's constant tug-of-war contention and lament of "You're either with me or against me" has left our communities exhausted. I am exhausted. The flames of anger intermittently fanned dwindle to brooding embers of disappointment and sadness.

After dinner, but before pie, we take turns around the table sharing what we are grateful for. Normally there is some silliness and wiggles, but this year, the kiddos took it surprisingly seriously. And for that, I was grateful. 

Today, I am thankful that the gift found inside of distance learning is being able to sit with my child and watch him learn how to read. That he can figure out the difference between the words “cop” and “police officer” in his little daily reader. I enjoy watching the Kindergartner show me how he wrote his name – the little letters all in alignment with the “path across the capital A.” I enjoy his eagerness to cut out the shapes that begin with the letter c and how delighted he is that he gets to make up his own pattern sequence: circle-circle-square, circle-circle-square.

I’m grateful that I can double-check my Third Grader’s work. That she wrote three sentences with no spelling mistakes. I’m grateful that she can get up on her own and show up for her 8am Google Meet on time. I’m grateful that she did an art project – a turkey with an orange bowl body, a brown toilet paper roll neck and head, and six bright feathers naming the things she is grateful for: mom, dad, house, family, God, cats.

I’m grateful that I can assume the teenagers are working on their homework as well. And if not, I can be pretty sure they will emerge from their slumber caves and take a seat at the kitchen table in the evening or at night.

I’m grateful for the cooperation and the calm that is in our household at this very moment. 

I’m grateful for teachers who’ve really gotten this distance learning thing down. That they’ve created the structure for the day – a framework of video meetings and assignment due dates that hold the space for the day. I’m grateful for their cheerful voices and professionalism as we all get through the pandemic together. Their upbeat notes remind me that we are still a community – in this together – instead of an individualistic free-for-all. Maybe this is just a school teacher thing – but I’m grateful for it anyway.

I’m grateful that I can make my kids a hot lunch and homemade granola at the kitchen counter while listening to the sounds of distance learning. 

I’m grateful that I am home.

On This Day

Historic Highlights (credits)

1991 - South Ossetia declares independence

The disputed region of the country of Georgia calls itself the Republic of South Ossetia. The declaration of independence was not recognized by Georgia and was followed by the South Ossetia War. Only a few countries, including Russia and Venezuela, recognize it as a sovereign country.

1975 - East Timor independence

East Timor declared its independence from Portugal

1967 - First pulsar observed

Graduate student Jocelyn Bell and her advisor Antony Hewish at Cambridge University were the first people to observe and discover pulsars. Pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron magnetized stars that emit radiation.

1964 - NASA launches Mariner 4

The first spacecraft to make a flyby of Mars, the spacecraft was the first one to send images of a planet back to Earth.

1943 - Tehran Conference begins

The Tehran Conference between the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union began at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran. The conference dealt with the Axis powers in Europe and Asia and made plans to open up a second front against the Germans in France during WW II.

Happy Birthday to You!🎶 

1962 - Jon Stewart, American comedian, actor, television host

1820 - Friedrich Engels, German philosopher

1628 - John Bunyan, English preacher, author

1489 - Margaret Tudor, English wife of James IV of Scotland

1118 - Manuel I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor

Remembering You

2010 - Leslie Nielsen, Canadian/American actor

1968 - Enid Blyton, English author

1954 - Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1859 - Washington Irving, American historian, author

1680 - Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor, painter

Find your gratitude and make it a great Saturday.

Kim