If you are in the UK, generally speaking, you will not be too aware of Thanksgiving – it just passes  you by. If you are in the US, you would have to be dead not to be aware of it. It signals the official start to the countdown to Christmas. Houses are bedecked, festive lights are popping up all over the city and the TV schedules have been taken over with Thanksgiving Day parades.

But all of the commercial razzmatazz is a far cry from the origins of Thanksgiving. We all know that it had something to do with the Pilgrims and you would be right. But actually I guess they were really having a celebration in thanks for the harvest and for still being alive!

In the UK we do celebrate the Harvest at Harvest Festival services in churches up and down the land so really, Thanksgiving as celebrated by the Pilgrims was based on those traditions. In the UK these earlier thanksgiving celebrations were held at the time of the harvest moon in September, at or around the time of the equinox and the origins go back to pagan times and beyond, with many ancient cultures and peoples known to celebrate and give thanks at times of plenty.

The Christian Harvest Thanksgiving reminds us of all the good things God gives us and asks us to share with others who are not so fortunate. I well remember taking all sorts of tins and packets of food to school and church at that time for distribution to those in need.

Back in the US, George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789 . The conclusion of the war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution were reasons to celebrate and so hence our UK perception that Thanksgiving is the US way of giving thanks for ‘escaping’ colonial rule. Subsequent Presidents continued this celebration of thanks, but it was only in 1869 that Abraham Lincoln finally scheduled Thanksgiving for the last Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939. It was controversially moved up a week by Franklin D. Roosevelt to boost retail sales – but finally found its present ‘home’ of the fourth Thursday in November in 1941.

More on the origins of Thanksgiving can be found on the History Channel.

With the Thanksgiving parades, the retail boost, the feasting and the TV traditions of ‘football’ and films, the celebrations seem quite distant from the original concept and purpose.

Facebook did kindly ask me today to tell them what I gave thanks for!

Facebook has been completely taken over by advertising and sponsored posts on this lead up to Thanksgiving. I can barely find a friend and so feel quite ignorant of what’s really going on in people’s lives.

I liked Facebook initially as it gave me a chance to connect with friends and family and even more so now we are some thousands of miles apart. But little by little, it is getting eaten away by the pull of the big bucks and advertising. What will take its place?

Even Twitter has sponsored tweets and so I am no longer in control of what I see.

It’s the social media equivalent of putting the chocolate near the check outs. Interestingly in the UK there has been a backlash agains this blatant attempt to tempt you with evil goodies while you wait. There is no such squeamishness over here – goodies galore twinkle and smile at you, albeit you don’t have to wait so long at a check out.

Except at Trader Joe’s, just before Thanksgiving.

They have a quaint way of leading you to your check out at Trader Joe’s. A helpful person takes your basket or trolley and leads you to the next available operator. But meantime there is one humungous long queue forming.

It doubles back on itself past a long aisle of goodies…on both sides. So not only do you get the usual last minute temptations of chocolate (yes, I succumbed!) and sweets but also a dazzling variety of snack foods from all manner of popcorn flavours to cookies, cakes and mouthwatering nibbles.  And a long, long time to wait and try to resist the evil of this temptation.

Back to social media and the temptations lie just a click away. It’s so easy to just click and look, but less easy to extricate yourself from the bombardment of similar ads that then come your way as a result. Your every move is monitored by clever cookies so you then suffer the endless ads, further tempting you to book that holiday, or buy those boots/slippers/face creams.

And so at the bottom of this blog you are probably seeing those same ads. Sorry but I am using the free version (as you will be) so ads will appear, tailored as they are to suit the individual (peacock patterned leggings, anyone?)

Returning to Thanksgiving.

What can I give thanks for?

An awful lot. Too much in fact. And yes, there are people with a whole lot less.

Driving in one of the poshest areas of Houston recently and stuck in traffic, my eyes were drawn to the beautiful houses lining the street. I was struck with just how huge some of these homes are. One garden was in the process of being  taken over by a herd of reindeer, which would no doubt be covered in fairy lights and beam megawatts on the neighbours, using an enormous amount of electrical power in the process.

These houses could provide shelter, easily, for around 30 refugee families and they would still not have to share the same bathroom. But presently there will be, what, 2, or maybe as many as 5 people living in each of them.  And this state wants no refugees. Not here. No thanks. NIMBY to the extreme.

The Donald has a lot to answer for and a lot to be thankful for – but he won’t be giving (much) to the less fortunate. Instead he’ll be planning his ‘wall’ and his immigration (or non-immigration) policies.  Rather than help the world to solve its problems, he’d rather keep ‘them’ out and if he can’t keep them out, chip and tag them so he can monitor their every move. Maybe his vision is of a Donald Trump Utopia where every town and city has a statue of his Donald-ness, if not a building erected in his name, where only little Donald look-a-likees live, where every woman is a blonde bimbo and where we can all have guns to keep out the evil non-Donalds.

I am currently thankful he is not the President of the US – and ever hopeful that some sense within the American people will prevail in 2016.

I wonder what Lincoln would make of Thanksgiving and the current political situation if he were beamed to 2015…???