The First Thanksgiving....

With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, the girls and I have been doing some reading about that famous autumn feast shared by the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians way back in 1621, a celebration which we now refer to as the first Thanksgiving. It has been interesting to read about the period of time in which the Pilgrims lived, their persecution in England, their flight to Holland, their difficult journey for 66 days on the Mayflower to America, and their trials and tribulations in the New World, which included starvation and disease during that first harsh winter. Governor William Bradford...who I am quite proud to be related to... wrote that Squanto and the Wampanoag Indians were "a special instrument sent by God for their good, beyond their expectations..." Squanto taught the immigrants how to build homes fitting to the climate, how and when to plant crops and how to cook their harvest. And so is was with great gratitude that the Pilgrims gave all honor and glory to God for His provision and for sending the Wampanoag people to help them survive.

This afternoon as a part of our "Thanksgiving study" Bethany and Sarah and I sat down to do some holiday crafts. My girls love to make crafts and therefore Grandma has put them in charge of decorating the Thanksgiving dinner table. We found these cute little paper Pilgrims and Indian character made from toilet tubes. We had so much fun drawing, cutting and gluing together....and we were quite pleased with the results!