Catholic Family Celebrations
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    • May 1 St. Joseph the Worker
    • May 3 Sts. Philip and James
    • Mother's Day
    • May 10 St. Damien Molokai
    • May 13 Our Lady of Fatima
    • May 22 St. Rita
    • May 26 St. Philip Neri
    • May 31 Visitation
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  • June
    • Corpus Christi
    • Father's Day
    • Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart
    • June 13 St. Anthony of Padua
    • June 24 Nativity of St. John the Baptisi
    • June 29 Sts. Peter and Paul
  • July
    • July 4th
    • July 6 St. Maria Goretti
    • July 11 St. Benedict
    • July 14 St. Kateri Tekakwitha
    • July 22 St. Mary Magdalene
    • July 25 St. James
    • July 26 Sts. Joachim and Anne
    • July 29 St. Martha
    • July 31 St. Ignatius of Loyola
  • August
    • Back to School
    • August 4 St. John Vianney
    • August 6 Transfiguration
    • August 8 St. Dominic
    • August 10 St. Lawrence
    • August 11 St. Clare
    • August 14 St. Maximillian Kolbe
    • August 15 Assumption
    • August 21 St. Pius X
    • August 22 Queenship of Mary
    • August 24 St. Bartholomew
    • August 27-August 29
  • September
    • Patrons of School and Study
    • Labor Day
    • Sept. 5 St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
    • September 8 Mary's Birthday
    • September 15 Our Lady of Sorrows
    • September 20 St. Andrew Kim
    • September 21 St. Matthew
    • September 23 St. Padre Pio
    • September 27 St. Vincent DePaul
    • September 29 The Archangels
    • September 30 St. Jerome
  • October
    • Oct 1 St. Therese of the Child Jesus
    • October 2 Guardian Angels
    • October 4 St. Francis
    • October 7 Our Lady of the Rosary
    • October 17 St. Ignatius of Antioch
    • October 18 St. Luke
    • October 19 Sts. Isaac Jogues and John De Brebeuf
    • October 28 Sts. Simon and Jude
    • October 29 Blessed Chiara Badano
    • Halloween or All Hallow's Eve
  • November
    • November 1 All Saints Day
    • November 2 All Souls Day
    • November 9 Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
    • November 11 St. Martin of Tours
    • November 13 St. Frances Cabrini
    • November 15 St. Albert the Great
    • November 17 St. Elizabeth of Hungary
    • November 21 Presentation of Mary
    • November 22 St. Cecilia
    • November 30 St. Andrew
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christ the King
  • Advent/Dec.
    • Advent Wreath
    • Jesse Tree
    • The Creche
    • December 3 St. Francis Xavier
    • December 5 St. Nicholas
    • December 7 St. Ambrose
    • December 8 Immaculate Conception
    • December 9 St. Juan Diego
    • December 12 Our Lady of Guadalupe
    • December 13 St. Lucy
    • December 14 St. John of the Cross
    • Posada
    • O Antiphons
  • Christmas
  • January
    • January 1 Mary Mother of God
    • January 4 St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
    • Epiphany
    • Baptism of Our Lord
    • January 21 St. Agnes
    • January 22 Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn Child
    • January 28 St. Thomas Aquinas
    • January 31 St. John Bosco
    • Superbowl Sunday
  • February
    • February 2 Presentation
    • February 3 St. Blaise
    • February 6 St. Paul Miki
    • February 10 St. Scholastica
    • February 11 Our Lady of Lourdes
    • February 14 St. Valentine
    • February 22 Chair of St. Peter
  • March
    • March 3 St. Katharine Drexel
    • March 7 Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
    • March 9 St. Frances of Rome
    • March 17 St. Patrick
    • March 19 St. Joseph
    • March 25 Annunciation
  • Mardi Gras
  • Ash Wednesday
  • Lent

Thanksgiving

It certainly is the American version of a traditional feast day.

Look it it’s Christian origins:

President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving . . . Lincoln's original 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation (His speech which gives glory and thanksgiving to God) came - spiritually speaking - at a pivotal point in his life. During the first week of July of that year, the Battle of Gettysburg occurred, resulting in the loss of some 60,000 American lives. Four months later in November, Lincoln delivered his famous "Gettysburg Address." It was while Lincoln was walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he committed his life to Christ. As he explained to a friend:

When I left Springfield [to assume the Presidency] I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ
(From Christiananswers.net)

I have a copy of that Thanksgiving Proclamation that Lincoln gave that I cut out of the newspaper one year.I display it on the table for whoever would like to read it. You can find it on the Internet as well.                 Thanksgiving Proclamation
Picture
To do: Besides the usual preparations for Thanksgiving, I try to keep the focus where it was intended:thanking God.We like to attend Mass on this day.We also try to invite someone to our Thanksgiving meal who might be alone on this day.And we always share our thanksgivings for the year individually around the table.(I often videotape this despite all the moans and complaints.)These thanksgiving ponderings are precious when the children grow older and the grandparents are no longer with us.

Many crafts can be done to decorate the table. Just start looking online and you will be inspired.


To pray: Besides the usual dinnertime blessing, it is nice to have someone compose a prayer mentioning many of the things your family is thankful for.If it is a child doing the composing, he can ask several family members for their contributions.


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