Thanksgiving - I am Cooking Today, Please Enjoy These Thanksgiving Quotes

Here are a few pearls of Thanksgiving wit, wisdom and poetry.

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
~Thornton Wilder

Forever on Thanksgiving Day
The heart will find the pathway home.
~Wilbur D. Nesbit

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. 
~Cicero

O Lord that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.
~William Shakespeare

None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude.  Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy. 
~Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel. 
~Author Unknown

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. 
~Aesop

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. 
~William Arthur Ward

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.
~Jon Stewart

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
~Author Unknown

Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast. 
~William Shakespeare

Turkey: A large bird whose flesh, when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude. 
~Ambrose Bierce

Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for - annually, not oftener - if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians.  Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man's side, consequently on the Lord's side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments. 
~Mark Twain

Thanksgiving Dinner Will Cost More Than Last Year

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.
~Erma Bombeck

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) estimates the cost to make a Thanksgiving meal for 10 people in 2011 is $49.20. Last year the cost was $43.47. The AFBF survey shopping list includes turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk. The list purportedly includes sufficient quantities to serve 10 people and provide leftovers. (Not my family!) I wonder where they shop and how big that turkey is?*

Note: Here is a Turkey Dinner Calculator to estimate how much turkey you will need. It said I needed 22 pounds of turkey and 38 cups of stuffing, so it may not be the most accurate tool on the internet.

Something else I learned: Turkey is a favorite loss leader item at grocery stores.

*UPDATE: It is a 16 lb turkey. No way would that feed the group that comes to my house for dinner! Not even including a ham!

The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony Shared a Meal with the Wampanoag Indians in 1621

Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
~Native American Saying

There is so much contradictory information about what did and did not happen on Thanksgiving, and why we celebrate the way we do that it becomes nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction. There is documentary evidence that Chief Massosoit of the Wampanoag tribe and 90 of his men got together with Governor Edward Winslow and ate for four days. Probably not turkey, and probably not at tables laden with food.

But therein lies the basis of the holiday we celebrate today.

Note: Giving thanks for that which we are grateful is, in my opinion, a good thing to set a day aside for. That we eat some good food and share time with people we love makes it even better.

Something else I learned: 46 million turkeys will be consumed on Thanksgiving.