If you want a pleasant and elegant Thanksgiving tribute - go to One Hand Clapping.
Ann Althouse has a short post wondering why Thanksgiving doesn't have a negative analogue (like Scrooge or the Grinch) like Christmas. There may be reasons, but that isn't the point. She suggests "The Thankswitholder" or "The Ingrate." I prefer the latter or, alternatively, offer up the title as a possibility - The Thanksgriper.
Speaking of being a Thanksgriper, the Times 'conservative beat' reporter, David Kirkpatrick had a piece on Sunday about conservatives pushing the "true meaning of Thanksgiving." I'll agree that the genuine religiosity of the Puritans is too often caricatured or ignored altogether. But conservatives are becoming whiny and demanding (perhaps I should say - "are being portrayed as" but I'm inclined to think the former is as true as the latter besides the latter is itself whiny) - particularly after the election (perhaps more on this later). Thanksgiving does build not only off the Plymouth Pilgims initial fall celebration, but also off of the Puritan tradition of holding periodic "days of public thanks" for important events. Of course, their practice was different from ours, noticeably less self-indulgent, a fact that evangelicals would do well to remind themselves. It's also true that our present holiday (instituted by Lincoln as an annual event) was solidified by FDR into its present form in part to properly frame the Christmas holiday shopping period. The past is never quite what we want it to be. Should we return to some of the true meaning of Thanksgiving? Sure, but the church should do that itself first - as a postive example, instead of griping about public culture.
One practice of the New England church was to have a "sacrifice of thanksgiving" - to give to others as a showing to God of your gratefulness for all that He has given to you knowing from whom your bounty comes. That's probably a good place to start.
But whatever you do, don't be a Thanksgriper.
UPDATE - Professor Althouse (thanks for the link) is clarifying her call for an "iconic character" "who embodies our hostility to Thanksgiving" and not simply "a term for a Thanksgiving hater." I think she needs a scriptwriter or producer - John Hughes is a bit outdated, what about Todd Komarnicki from ELF?
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