Due the untimely death of my brother in love... Nov 18... there was no thanksgiving in the house this year.

Personally, I take the Pilgrims out of it and look at as a day for family. I also remind myself of the things I'm grateful for.

I'm sure the indians do . there were 2 million when we got here 1500 . by 1900 there were 1.7 mil so in 500 years they LOST 300k. normally they would double and double gain and some. How we can even think of indians while we gorge ourselves is beyond me . WE ARE BRUTAL

From the very first day my Catholic mom had me go to church, during the homily, I look to my left and right and thought to myself " do all these people really buy into this crap"? I think I was maybe 7yrs old. So from my own personal experience I have never tied religion to these holidays... Christmas = food & gifts, Halloween = candy, thanksgiving = food, Easter = food and candy &small gifts. All start with some "chant" before you eat.

I've never been all that big on Thanksgiving. Most of my family are extreme Evangelicals, and the thought of spending any time with them at all is just painful. As soon as I was old enough to make my own decisions, I chose to avoid Thanksgiving dinners at all cost. My mom and my sister and I get along really well, but that's it. We choose Christmas to get together because it's less stressful for all us.

I do not think the historical "Thanksgiving" is truly celebrated any longer. I celebrate with my boys, some football, Harry Potter topped off with some whipped Supernatural. ????For those moments I am thankful.

I've always considered it a harvest holiday, which can be worth celebrating, as is the slow down from summer and the storing up for winter, allowing us time to relax and enjoy being together. (note: black friday, etc, are not part of our traditions).

I used to have mixed feelings about it as well until I started treating it the way i do Christmas or Easter, something that has changed meanings and is celebrating something different. Christmas at it's roots was a Pagan tradition then plagiarized by Christians to help hide Paganism and sweep it away. and Easter was ripped off from the Pagan celebration of the vernal equinox to sweep that away. Then in turn those were later turned into consumer holidays and an excuse to see those family members you hardly ever see lol. Same thing with Thanksgiving might be based on horrid history but it has since evolved into a consumer holiday for grocery stores and an excuse to see those family members once again. If it wasn't for family I wouldn't bother with it at all as the only parts i partake in are gift giving, food, and family time.

I'm confident in my feelings that I'm more than glad to have the truth finally surfacing about this hypocritical celebration. I think a better excuse to have a family get together should be created to replace it.