Book of Days

It’s Thanksgiving, our great American holiday of appreciation. It almost didn’t make it through history, this annual celebration. It was President Washington who, in 1789, in his very first presidential proclamation, declared a day of national thanksgiving. But interest waned after that, and it was pretty much a forgotten holiday until President Lincoln felt compelled to revive the tradition, proclaiming the last Thursday of November, 1863, for the same purpose. It was a rough time for a young nation in the grips of a civil war. When you get right down to it, we are often in rough times. But we muster up and pull through and we do what needs doing. And on this last Thursday of November, we continue that tradition. We gather together, share a meal, if we are lucky, with those we love, and we consider all our blessings. They are many, even when we doubt the fact. From Seth and me, to all of you: Happy Thanksgiving.

Our image is of an old letterpress cut that we have used these past three years on each of our annual Copperman’s Day prints each January. They read Take Joy, Take Peace, Take Heaven. They are based on a Christmas letter written by Fra Giovanni Giocondo in 1513. Fra Giovanni seems to know a thing or two about thankfulness.

It’s Thanksgiving, the great American holiday set aside for gathering and for the counting of our blessings. The menu is practically universal across the land with very few variations, and that alone is amazing, that this melting pot of a nation can agree on something. We gather and we fret over the meal and we do the best we can to make the day as special as we can. Whether we gather with many or with but a few, what matters most is that we approach the day in the spirit of thankfulness for which the day is named. And this is our wish for you as we gather with family in Illinois and sit down to a table set for 17. I will think of all of you who read this blog and appreciate what we do and when it comes to thinking of all we are thankful for, I will remember you all, for I truly am thankful that you read, that you write back, that you share, that you enjoy what Convivio is all about. From us to you: Happy Thanksgiving.

A bit of Florida brought with us to Illinois, something the other Floridians will recognize: the famous Publix Pilgrim salt & pepper shakers. They are equally at home here in snowy Illinois as they are in sunny Florida.

Happy Thanksgiving. Not much more to say than that. I’m spending my day at the press, printing new works for an exhibition I’m in that opens on the 6th of December. Not much time between now and then, and so here I am, but I’m happy to be here. There were Shaker spirituals playing on the stereo a moment ago, and now it’s Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, and before that it was Jane Siberry. The cat’s hanging out with me and there are pleasant stirrings in the house. I’m quite content.

Thanksgiving should be this way: a day spent doing what is most important to you. We’ll gather later with the family for dinner and complete the day in the company of those we love. What could be better? At the table, I’ll think of all I’m thankful for, and it will include all of you, for liking what we do, for letting us be a part of your days.

I wish you a day that makes you as happy as mine is making me. Happy Thanksgiving.
John

Image: Thanksgiving circa 1973. We had company from Connecticut. After dinner, almost everyone found a spot and fell soundly asleep. Contentedness was in the air.