The Thanksgiving feast—an American tradition that dates back to the 16th century when Spanish settlers held a feast of gratitude for God’s providence as they successfully arrived in what is now Florida. Then in 1620, a large group of Puritans, who fled the religious persecution of early 17th century England, to then eventually end up on our shores. We’re all familiar with this story, as we have learned about the Pilgrims from our earliest school days.

Each year, Thanksgiving is a fresh chance to embrace the spirit of gratitude that characterizes the holiday. As we enjoy turkey and stuffing and spending time with family and friends, it’s important to slow down and take stock of the bounty we enjoy, and give thanks because we recognize that all we have is a blessing.

In a recent Facebook post, it was announced that Holdenville Veterinarian Dr. Rebekah Hartfield recently received the Inaugural Recent Grad Distinguished Alumni Award from Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine Alumni Society (OSUCVM).

HSPS NEWS IN BRIEF The Holdenville Society of Painters and Sculptors will be hosting a funfilled Mandala rock painting class on December 7th from 10:00 a.m. til 1:00 p.m.

THANKFUL FOR OUR LOCAL CHURCHES!

Football is a funny game! The game is played with a funny shaped oblong ball! The shape of the ball indicates that it will take odd bounces! The ball didn’t bounce Holdenville’s way in the state quarterfinal match-up with the Colcord Hornets. The final score of 36-14 would indicate that Colcord is three touchdowns better than the Wolverines but in analyzing the contest it would be easy to say that the Hornets got all the breaks.

One Thanksgiving—I think it was 1949 or 1950—Grandpa announced that we would celebrate Thanksgiving differently. “An experiment,” Grandpa called it.

Thanksgiving has become the stepchild of second half of the year holidays. We so easily slide from Fourth of July into Halloween, then take a brief respite to be thankful at Thanksgiving before stepping into Christmas and New Year’s. Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, Wal-Mart, Hallmark, etc., took the red, white and blue Independence Day decorations down in July and went straight to the Christmas scenario. Sure, they had momentary bumps in the road for Halloween and Thanksgiving but in their hearts, they were getting ready for Christmas.

THANKFUL FOR RECOVERY!