Arnie reached for the dip container and in the process, managed to drop a portion on the floor. Quickly, Bambi grabbed a napkin and began to wipe up Arnie's dropped dip.
  "Squanto lived with the monks and became a Christian," she continued. "They also helped him get on an English ship for Newfoundland where he went back to work for Sir Ferdinando Gorges. He sailed back to England and did quite a bit of work as a translator for the Plymouth Company."

  "You know quite a bit about Squanto don't you?" commented Doc Harry.

"I did a paper about the Pilgrims for a class I am taking," replied Bambi. "Poor Squanto. He was a Patuxet Indian, and when he finally returned home he discovered that his entire tribe had been wiped out by one of the white man's plagues.

"Too bad," Mary Karnosh interjected. "Glad he was around to help the Pilgrims catch turkeys."

"They may not have eaten turkey at all," announced Bambi. "The Pilgrims called most wild birds 'turkey'. Governor Bradford sent 'four men fowling' after wild ducks and geese."

  "They must have eaten more than ducks and geese," said Mary's husband, Walt who was in the process of uncorking another of Sulo's wine bottles.

"They did," Doc Harry replied. "Captain Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims, invited Squanto, and other Indian leaders to bring their families to celebrate their successful harvest. The Indians had big families and about 90 of them showed up. They brought with them deer, wild birds, fish, beans, squash, corn bread, lobsters, clams, and lots of other foods. The Indians actually supplied most of the food for the first thanksgiving."

  Mary poured some of Sulo's wine into her glass. "And we have celebrated Thanksgiving ever since."

  "Not quite," replied Bambi. "That first Thanksgiving was in 1621. The Mayflower arrived in 1620.  Annie placed her hand on Arnie's Chair to save him from rocking back too far. "The first winter was devastating and at the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed with them. The harvest of 1621 was a good one, mainly because of the Indians' help. They didn't have a Thanksgiving celebration the next year. Then in 1623, they had a severe drought. The pilgrims held a prayer service and they prayed for rain. It rained the very next day. Governor Bradford declared another day of Thanksgiving and they once again invited their Indian friends.

  "And that's when we started having Thanksgivings?" asked Arnie as he reached for a dinner roll, simultaneously dipping his sleeve into the turkey gravy.

"Not really," Bambi responded, "there weren't any more Thanksgivings until June of 1676 when the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts held a meeting to express thanks for their 'good fortune' in killing off some of the neighboring hostile Indian tribes."

  "Were there Indians at that Thanksgiving?" Arnie wondered.

  "What do you think?"  Replied Bambi with a smirk.

  "October of 1777 was a first. All 13 colonies joined in a celebration of thanksgiving to commemorate the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga, but it was a one-time thing. George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, but lots of people opposed it. Thomas Jefferson and others seemed to think that the hardships of a few Pilgrims didn't warrant a national holiday. It wasn't until 1863 that President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.  From that time on each President would make a similar proclamation. It wasn't until 1941 that Congress finally sanctioned Thanksgiving as a legal holiday."

  Sulo entered the room carrying a large casserole filled with brown-sugared yams.  "I think that we are ready to eat!"

  "All right!" cried Arnie, as he picked up a fork and stuffed a napkin under his neck.
  "Sulo, will you say the Grace?" asked Annie.

Sulo bowed his head. "Lord of all creation. We celebrate today to give thanks for all that you have given to us. We thank you for our lives, our home, our friends, our nation, and this world of your creation. To quote the hymn 'For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child. Friends on earth, and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild...' We ask for your blessing to make this our own very special day of thanksgiving. Bless this food and bless our friends as well. Amen…"

  Sulo lifted his head and looked at the gathering. A small smile formed on his lips.
  "Oh and by the way, Little Annie and I have one more thing to be thankful about; we're going to have a baby! I'm gonna be a Papa!"
  Have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving all.