Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

I’ve always known the story behind Thanksgiving, but a few years ago I was excited to hear the tale of how Thanksgiving came to be a national holiday. After the pilgrims first began the tradition, it was an irregular celebration for the next century and a half. On September 28, 1863, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale wrote to President Lincoln urging him to make Thanksgiving a national and fixed holiday. Hale was renowned for her magazine Godey’s Ladies Book and had been doing a Thanksgiving editorial for years. She always opened with Nehemiah 8:10 “Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Hale believed that Nehemiah spoke of a time of Thanksgiving in a time of national stress. She was quoted as saying, “in a time of national darkness and sore troubles, shall we not recognize the goodness of God never faileth, and that to our Father in heaven we should always bring the Thanksgiving offering at the ingathering of the harvest?”

Harold Ivan Smith wrote the following concerning President Lincoln’s decision about Hale’s request. “Lincoln weighed the matter and decided that the timing was right for something that would promote national unity. He ordered Seward to draft the proclamation. Early on October 3, Lincoln read the proclamation: “The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and helpful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gift of the most high God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.” Lincoln commended Seward for a project “well done” and then focused on the last paragraph: “I do, therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”

So, as this Thanksgiving is fast approaching, let us remember that no matter what sort of circumstances we are facing, God has never failed us and never will. He is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving today and everyday. And to go along with Nehemiah’s decree to “eat and drink”, here is one of our family’s favorite Thanksgiving recipes! ~ Lana Calabello

Sweet Potato Casserole:

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 stick of butter 2 eggs slightly beaten

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup flour
1/3 to 1 cup chopped pecans 1/3 stick butter, not melted