The ZOsterman Weekend is back, alright, with holiday tidings for you and yours. Here's hoping the whole holiday season treats us all with some good will and prosperity.
The Weekend isn't here tonight to berate you with opinion or flood this space with hyperlinks. It's Thanksgiving after all, a time to relax and give ... thanks.
Thanksgiving is traditionally believed to have started with pilgrims and Indians in the 17th Century, and at various times throughout the young country's history, days of thanks were held for bountiful harvests and, in 1777, for the American victory at Saratoga (a movement The ZOsterman Weekend certainly could have gotten behind).
But it wasn't until the Civil War that the day became a part of the American holiday calender.
Sarah Hale, the country's first magazine editor and a poet, had petitioned every president for the last 20 years for a nationwide day to give thanks. Seeing the need for some national therapy in the midst of a bloody, endless civil war, Abraham Lincoln officially declared a national day of thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November, 1863. How about that?
History lesson aside, The Weekend would like to know what you, the readers, are thankful for as we come to the close of the year that was. It can be anything (within taste and reason, obviously), and we welcome all comers. I'm looking at you, Downing's 5th.
Feel free to respond below, and have a great holiday break.
