My Father's Turkeys

When my father finally retired from his teaching job after more than 50 years, he decided to expand his backyard chicken raising and added a couple of turkeys to breed and multiply.

The turkeys indeed bred and multiplied fast. It was amazing to behold the beauty of the fowls when they spread their tails into beautiful fans while strutting around, and making cockling sounds whenever we tried to approach their chicks.

For our meals our family often had chicken in abundance, but turkey less often. For obvious reasons, we did not associate our turkey meals as special occasions for thanksgiving unlike here in America where whole roasted turkey is the centerpiece of the family Thanksgiving dinner table.

My young siblings and I then had a particular fondness and amazement for the mother and father turkeys seeing them fiercely protecting their young. They were occasions for us to be thankful to our parents who tried to do everything to give us the best of what they could do to protect us and give us a fighting chance in life.

My parents instilled in us the virtue of thankfulness. We thanked God for our food at table. They taught us to say "Thank you" whenever someone did us a favor, big or small. We were taught gratitude.

And most important of all, they brought us without fail to Sunday Mass, also called the Eucharist, which is another name for thanksgiving. When our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist, He first gave thanks to the Father. Our greatest act of thanksgiving is the Eucharist.

The history behind the American Thanksgiving tradition has I think provided us with all the more reason to thank God for everything He has given and gives to us: life, family, source of livelihood, friends, and His coming to save us from our sins and opening the gates of heaven to us, to be one with Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit, together with the angels, Mary, and the saints forever.

May our life of thanksgiving always remind us of the love and generosity of the God Who gave us everything !! #

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!