My Favorite Holiday
Herman King 11-09

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday since taste is the only one of my five senses that remains fully functional. Though since being diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic, I am only supposed to eat small portions. Tell that to the turkey! Small portions just whet the appetite. I find fasting easier. And I usually take Oscar Wilde's advice that the best way to avoid temptation is to succumb to it. There are two locations that claim the first Thanksgiving. Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts where English settlers and Wampanoag Indians feasted together in 1621. The last Thursday in November was designated as Thanksgiving and was first officially proclaimed Nov. 28, 1782 at Exeter, New Hampshire. But Virginia also claims first Thanksgiving status. Virginia says English settlers and Powhatan Indians ate at Berkley Plantation alongside the Charles River (now James River) two years before Plymouth Rock. Both claims are credible but Massachusetts beat Virginia into the history books. I prefer to believe Berkley Plantation was the first since I am a Virginian and Berkley is such a beautiful place. Wish I could afford to rent it! Anyhow thinking about the white man and red man breaking bread together makes one feel warm and fuzzy, Since they spent the rest of the time killing each other. Having a party does bring people together.