Morgan Griffith's All New Thanksgiving Fun Facts

This web site has not reposted Congressman Griffith's E-Newsletter for a while. That's because Microsoft has "updated" Outlook to behave badly in Chrome, and sorry, Microsoft, that is not the way you "sell" Edge. To interest people in using Edge, you might offer a contract stating that (1) Edge respects every writer's and artist's moral copyright and blocks all attempts to plagiarize our work, mix and mash it with other people's work, and call it "artificial intelligence," which you are now officially renaming STOLEN Intelligence, SI not AI; and (2) Edge respects every computer owner's property rights and blocks all "updates," spyware, cookies, etc., from interacting with a computer for one hour after the last keystroke; and (3) all of Microsoft Office Suite will work in Edge, free of charge, for the lifetime of Microsoft or 100 years, whichever, and no program will ever "update" in any way a computer owner will notice, or if it does the computer owner will be paid a minimum of $1000 in cash for the inconvenience. The way the contract is, currently? If you print it out on paper, at least you could light a fire with the paper.

(And, can we trust Microsoft? They spent the whole year claiming that this computer would no longer receive "updates." So, maybe it wouldn't connect to the Internet any more, but it'd be a nice Net-free word and data storage device, I thought. Hah. If anything it's receiving more "updates." Yes, if Microsoft says it's raining it's probably safe to leave our rain gear in the car.)

But I did manage to open a few e-mails today, and Congressman Griffith's is a nice one. These fun facts aren't old enough to be part of our Thanksgiving tradition yet. Do they deserve to be?

"

Like all families and communities across America, our region is preparing for an exciting, fun, and hopefully thankful Thanksgiving holiday!

Every year, this special holiday offers a time that brings many families and loved ones together.

For me and my family, the Thanksgiving meal is the centerpiece. My wife and others will prepare a warm and filling meal.

The dining table is headlined by the turkey, but we also give due consideration to the stuffing, mashed potatoes, casseroles, yams, green beans and other Thanksgiving delicacies.

Speaking of turkeys, we should all be thankful for Charles W. Wampler, Sr.

Wampler, a Shenandoah Valley native and considered the father of the modern turkey industry, was the first to hatch turkey eggs in an incubator, developing year-round confinement-based farming, and was also the first to contract with farms for poultry growth and helped to found the National Turkey Foundation.

Further, Wampler, who in 1922 was a Virginia cooperative extension agent in Rockingham County, may have never gotten started without A.L. Dean, who was the head of the department of poultry science at Virginia Tech in the 1920s.

When Wampler started, turkeys were scarce, having almost been extirpated from Virginia.

Thanks to Wampler taking pressure off the wild turkey population and the Pittman-Robertson Act authored by Lexington’s own A. Willis Robertson, which dedicates money for wildlife conservation, the wild turkey is numerous.

Our communities will consume more than just food during the holiday!

Another staple of the Thanksgiving holiday is the Thanksgiving Day parade, and those include the Macy’s parade in New York City, the Philadelphia parade sponsored by 6abc Dunkin’ and the Detroit parade sponsored by Gardner White. This tradition is full of floats, balloons, dancers, celebrities and musical acts.

Over the years, numerous Ninth District bands and individuals have participated in these parades.

Further, while the weather might be chilly, it will not stop some from going outside and throwing a football around.

But most, like me, will stay in the comfort of our homes and watch football on TV.

Hometown hero, Wise County native and Super Bowl champion Carroll Dale played on Thanksgiving in 1970 as a member of the Green Bay Packers.

In that game, the Packers lost 16-3 to the eventual NFC Champion Dallas Cowboys.

While it was not a particularly memorable game for Dale, it proved to be an outlier compared to his overall season. He finished the 1970 season with 814 receiving yards and his third consecutive pro bowl selection.

Of course, the day following Thanksgiving is known as “Black Friday” because merchants often have their bottom lines moved from the red (losing money) to the black (making money).

It is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season.

This day features shoppers who brave the weather to stand in long lines in hopes of getting “deals.”

Shoppers not only try to use the purchasing power bonus deals on “Black Friday,” but on the following Monday as well.

Throughout the years, merchants and merchant associations have looked for ways to bring customers to their stores.

One innovative way created a Southwest Virginia cultural icon, the Mill Mountain Star.

The Star obviously rests on top of Mill Mountain, but it was created originally by Roanoke City and the Roanoke Merchants Association to attract visitors to downtown Roanoke for the Christmas holiday shopping season.

After building the special structure, Roanoke held a formal lighting ceremony on Thanksgiving Eve, November 23, 1949.

The cold night featured some public officials at the ceremony, including Roanoke Mayor A.R. Minton and Congressman Clifton Woodrum.

Also in attendance was legendary actor John Payne, a West Roanoke County native who lived in what is today Virginia’s Ninth District for a big part of his youth.

His most remembered film is the academy award-winning Christmas classic, Miracle on 34^th Street. Payne plays the attorney Fred Gailey.

At least as recently as 2018, Macy’s in New York still featured pictures of John Payne and Miracle on 34^th Street in their “Santaland.”

To me and many others, family and community inspire joy, love and a sense of belonging for which we all can be thankful.

P.S. Don’t forget last year’s Thanksgiving column where we laid out the historical justification for Virginia being home to the first Thanksgiving!

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office.  You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.

"

Book Review: A Match Made for Thanksgiving

Title: A Match Made for Thanksgiving

Author: Jackie Lau

Date: 2019

ISBN: 978-1-989610-02-2

Quote:  "Why is it so difficult to have a one-night stand?"

Duh.

Lily Tseng has been told she's boring, so she decides to make herself more interesting to other idjits like the wormboy who told her that. She puts on a skimpy dress, goes to a bar, and tries to pick a man for a one-night stand. Instantly Nick Wong pops up. Having much in common--both have some Chinese ancestry, both spend time in Toronto, both feel excited by saying the same formerly unprintable word, and both like Nanaimo Bars--they proceed straight home for the one-night stand and, unlike real people who have one-night stands, immediately fall in love. But they have flopped into bed, drunk, first.

Well, it's not a sweet romance. It's not a romance I'd want to read on Thanksgiving Day. (And there's some intentional ambiguity about which Thanksgiving Day is being celebrated; neither the Tsengs nor the Wongs seem to care about the history, but they'll be thankful when their thirty-something children make them grandparents, they have made clear.) 

If you like an explicit romance with frequent mentions of body parts and a formerly unprintable word, plus close-knit families and the promise of three more siblings' holiday-theme romances, this one's for you.

Morgan Griffith's Thanksgiving Message

From U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):

"

Households throughout the Ninth District, our greater commonwealth and the country are preparing for Thanksgiving.

Discussions are occurring over the method of cooking the Thanksgiving turkey and ensuring enough of the right food is available. The dining room table is organized for a feast, and maybe even a guest bedroom or couch is tidied up for incoming family.

On Sundays around Thanksgiving, it is customary to hear the hymn “We Gather Together” in churches.

The Christian song’s history is rooted in the Dutch war of liberation against the king of Spain. The Spanish were strong supporters of Roman Catholicism. The Spanish king was attempting to restrict the Protestant Dutch from exercising their faith and gathering at places of worship.

The Dutch were engulfed in years and years of battles.

In reference to the struggles of the Dutch people during this time, the hymn reads: “the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing...Let thy congregation escape tribulation.”

The hymn underscores the importance of community and faith centered around the Lord.

Meanwhile, people in England dealt with domestic problems of their own. Overpopulation with no room in the peerage for second, third and fourth sons, coupled with concerns of an overbearing government, caused people to reconsider their lifestyle options. Eager to improve their lives, the New World presented an opportunity for renewed fortune, promise and often religious freedom.

In 1607, the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown was founded in the colony of Virginia.

In 1619, others followed suit. That September, Captain John Woodlief and 36 men embarked on their own journey to Virginia. They battled stormy conditions sailing aboard the Good Ship Margaret from Bristol, England.

The wearied sailors and passengers arrived at their destination in December. They founded Berkeley Hundred, a settlement further up the James River from Jamestown.

Arrival at their colonial destination following the months-long journey became cause for celebration and prayer: “We ordain that this day of our ship's arrival … in the land of Virginia, shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

While many children are taught in school that the Pilgrims held the very first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts two years later in 1621, Virginia is credited with being a foundational player in establishing the tradition, which is why I believe all the common Thanksgiving imagery is merely Massachusetts envy towards Virginia. The Berkeley tradition was celebrated annually until the community was destroyed in an Indian conflict. I should note the Massachusetts Pilgrims only celebrated their Thanksgiving feast once.

In his 1963 Thanksgiving Proclamation, President John F. Kennedy recognized Virginia’s role: “Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together and for the faith which united them with their God.”

U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr. entered the story of the Virginia First Thanksgiving into the Congressional Record in 1969.

The modern annual Virginia Thanksgiving Festival at Berkeley Hundred, known better to some as Berkeley Plantation, pays homage to the contributions of Captain Woodlief and the original settlement. This year, the festival celebrated its 63^rd year commemorating America’s first Thanksgiving.

Berkeley Plantation also is the ancestral home of two U.S. presidents: 9^th President William Henry Harrison, which is where he was born, and 23^rd President Benjamin Harrison.

Aside from issuing proclamations, presidents engage in other customs around Thanksgiving time. One such custom is the pardoning of turkeys.

This practice allegedly stems from Abraham Lincoln. Legend holds it that Lincoln spared the life of a turkey at the behest of his son. Later presidents like Kennedy and Ronald Reagan held turkey pardon events before it became an annual tradition in 1989.

The National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation takes place at the White House. During the Obama and Trump Administrations, some of the pardoned turkeys ended up at Virginia Tech!

While I will not be granting any clemency to the turkey my wife cooks, I will be thanking God for all the blessings I have received.

In my house, like the Dutch and Captain Woodlief, we will gather together and place our trust and thanks in the Almighty.

No matter what your religious tradition is, I wish all a happy Thanksgiving!

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office.  You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives." 

Memes That Remind You of a Favorite Show or Movie?

Say what? I don't have a "meme garden." But let's see what Google can do today...a movie and a dash of snark...

 

And a happy, brain-restful Thanksgiving weekend to all...for those going offline for the weekend today, a tip from this web site: Try to find out one brand-new thing about each relative that you didn't know before. "That she's even fatter this year" and "That he's a stubborn wingnut" do not count. Make a list: name of relative, new fun fact--their favorite song, funniest childhood memory story, all-time favorite car model, anything you can think of them to ask them about that maintains a festive mood. 

If you liked these memes, check out everyone else's at http://www.longandshortreviews.com/miscellaneous-musings/wednesday-weekly-blogging-challenge-for-november-22-2023/ . I laughed. 

Thankful Friday: The Post I Should Have Done

Somebody proposed, as a corrective to the "Black Friday" hype and excess that crowds out Thanksgiving, calling it "Buy Nothing Friday." 

Well, bleep that. Friday is market day in my town. This post is appearing early so you can read it before you go out and shop. Or, if you like to read slowly, shop now and come back to it. People who don't shop on Friday are the ones who "have to" shop on Saturday, which is the day the Bible sets apart for rest and worship, or on Sunday, which is the day for visiting and entertaining friends, at church or at home.

The privilege of shopping is something for which modern Americans should be thankful, so that continues the mood of this weekend nicely. 

Now, about the post I should have done yesterday...

I did what I often do with this blog, in this season of (thank God and the sponsors) reliable Internet access. I read a friend's blog, clicked on a link, thought of a lot to add, wrote a nice snarky post and scheduled it for the next day that was open for a post. Thanksgiving Day, that was. Well, if people were online on Thanksgiving Day they ought to enjoy something snarky to read, I thought, clicking the "Publish" button.

But it does not express the spirit of thanksgiving, nor does it reflect what I did on Thanksgiving Day:

I stayed up most of the night, reading and writing, and cooking, and keeping lights on and shadows moving at the windows to discourage the Professional Bad Neighbor.

He still drives. He's been driving up in the dead of the night regularly, watching for a deer who is bounding in gleeful circles around him. 

In the past, sharing the HSP gene made him the sort of poacher who saw a deer and bagged it, but no more. Time and glyphosate are catching up with him. I've been sitting up all night, 'cos night is when the Internet runs best, and I feel the effects of trying to be a nocturnal human too, but not as badly as the P.B.N. does. It's not nice to laugh at what might be the effects of age, because one's own time is sure to come, but in this case I believe they are more the effects of his evildoing, and I just laugh and laugh at the decline of the P.B.N.'s special abilities, which so many of our other relatives kept into their eighties, and he's losing while only in his sixties. Give it up, you geriatric weasel, I chortle. You're so slow these days you might as well be some poor old White Man From Town. 

("White Man From Town" is a reference to a vintage Stephen King movie. As when those shorter-than-the-average-baby-boomer friends and I were dancing and roaring along with "Short People," it's not being used to refer to White people generally, but to a specific kind of person that is usually White. The P.B.N. and I, and the more or less mutual relatives involved, are legally White.)

So, my job happens to be well suited to night-shift work. I work the night shift and sometimes I do think it slows me down, like remembering to post things on the most appropriate days.

I fell asleep just after letting the fire go out, leaving the rice to dry out slowly on a cooling burner, and dozed until the first car rolled up at 8 a.m.

It was a sunny, festive day, warm for November, and people came up and enjoyed being festive and thankful. I woke up and was festive and thankful. The P.B.N. slunk away home. The rice came out perfect. There was extra meat for the cats.

About 1:30 p.m. the P.B.N. rolled past, accompanied by a young nephew who looked bloated and likely to have a heart attack before age forty. His whole side of the family have a peculiar sort of face. On the short, slim, trim ones it looks like a charmingly quirky smile until you've seen them in a bad mood and realized that it's a permanent birth defect. On this big puffy kid it is hideous.  

About 2:00 p.m. the evil wind blew, with that smell that might be some sort of freshly cut vegetation, or at least freshly cut rotten vegetation, except that, hello, it's November and there is no fresh vegetation to be cut, so you know it's that "Roundup" poison. The decent human beings left as fast as they could drive away, one vehicle at a time, without bumping into one another.

The evildoers sat in their truck till about 6 p.m., not freezing, unfortunately, but inhaling their own poison while not seeing any sign of the wily deer. I was really hoping to see at least one of them collapse and the other one not have the strength to take him home. That did not happen. But hey, knowing what I have to look forward to this weekend and what my nice relatives have to look forward to, I think life owes me the sight of at least one glyphosate poisoner going down into a long, slow, horrible time on life-support machinery...the kind of thing that will make the rest of the Rotten Branch of the Family Tree paupers, and force them to sell houses and land cheap, so that my nice relatives can reclaim our ancestral land easily and my rich ones can decide what to do with the frackable farms from which the Professional Bad Neighbor is trying to move away. I recommend trying to reclaim the land, but only on account of the aquifer. 

Actually, I think we need a law to the effect that spraying anything you can't drink, outdoors, costs the person doing it any right ever to own land anywhere. Professional insecticide applicators could live in nice government-funded flats. Idiots who don't know any better than to spray poisons on mere plants should live in sub-basement apartments, preferably in New Orleans, where all the water has passed through eight or ten other bodies and smells like it, too, and a good bit of that water seeps in around the windows in wet weather.

I am not going to feel very pleasant for the rest of this weekend. 

When unpleasant feelings are unavoidable one might as well at least think pleasant thoughts, so I went online and started opening posts on other people's pleasant blogs. Before even reading those posts I realized that this web site needs a Thanksgiving post about some people for whom we thank God, and for whom we pray...Not all of these people ever were on the blog roll widget, even when it was working properly. Not all of them blog or e-mail regularly. Some of them are Tweeps whom I've followed and/or who've followed me for years during which the anti-private-Twits algorithm has blocked our tweets from one another's home pages. Nevertheless, this web site thanks them for the content they feed it.

This list is a draft of a Page that is going up, in a few weeks, to replace the broken blog roll widget. There will be more names on the Page. These are just the first few people I try to follow who popped into my mind.

I GIVE THANKS FOR

Private people we know in real life who do not have screen names, who are not to be named, photographed, or discussed in any detail on any computer connected to the Internet

Private clients who've exchanged e-mail with me but not disclosed public web addresses

Adayahi and family

Alana Mautone

Amy Singer, a.k.a. Knittymag

Andrei Codrescu

Andria Perry

Anne Lamott

April Munday

Barb Radisavljevic

Barb Taub

Beth Ann Chiles

Candace Owens

Carey Gillam

Carolina, a.k.a. Carolinaily

Dan Lewis

Daniel J Robles

Dave Barry, @rayadverb

David B. Clear

David French

David I. Ramadan

Diane Zoller-Ciatto, a.k.a. Jersey Nana

Dinesh D'Souza

Dsnake1

East Sussex Wanderer

Ellen Hawley

Ena Valikov, a.k.a. Notorious KGB Aggie, a.k.a. @beachvetlbc

Erin Brockovich

Fayanora

Gene Weingarten

Glenn Beck and The Blaze

The Grouch

Hanan Habibzai

Hazel Stark

Helene Rush

Idiotgrrrl, a.k.a. Pat Mathews

Iris Yang

Janis Evans

Javier Reinoso, @reinosoj

JD Edwin

J.D. Tuccille

Jeanne Frost, a.k.a. JP Sixbear

Jee Leong Koh

Jendi Reiter

Jerry Jenkins

JJ Pryor

John McCutcheon

John McDougall and Mary, Craig, and Heather

John Scalzi

Jonah Goldberg

KA Ashcomb

Karen Linamen

Kat Murti

KerrAvonsen

Kraeuter Verbena

Larry Elder

Laura Ingraham

Laura McKowen

LB Johnson and Barkley's heirs

Limyaael

Linda Ann Nickerson

Linda Lee Lyberg, a.k.a. Charmed Chaos

Lisiwayu and family

Lizza Aiken

Lydia Schoch

Lyn Lomasi, a.k.a. Momie Tullottes, and Richard Rowell

Magaly Guerrero

Margaret Atwood

U.S. Senator Mark Warner

The Marmelade Gypsy and his human Jeanie

Meg Swansen

Melissa and Mudpie

Messy Mimi

Michael S. Hart and his heirs, a.k.a. Project Gutenberg

Michelle Malkin

Millionhair, a.k.a. Morgan Mei

Moshow

MOTUS, aka Michelle's Mirror, and all the Moti

U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9)

Naomi Parker, @naogannet

Neil Gaiman

Pamela Dean

Pat Myers

Penny Nance

Petfinder

Plough

Priscilla Bird, a.k.a. Pbird

Proud Boomer

Rachel Parent

Ralph Nader and USPIRG

Revived Writer

Rick Bailey

Rita Quillen

Roadsend Naturalist

Rob Kistner

Robert Kennedy (Jr.)

Roger Latour

Rokujira

Rommy Cortez-Driks

Rosemary Nissen-Wade

Ruth Cox, bereaved human companion of Valentino

Sara McNulty, a.k.a. Purple Pen

SARK

Scott Adams

Shaunti Feldhahn

Son of Sobieski

Stephen King, a.k.a. Big Steve (no, he's not a close relative, and "King" is the name of the founder of the town where I chose this screen name)

Stryck

Susan Jarvis Bryant

Tamara Lebret

Virginia Delegate Terry Kilgore (R-1)

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine

Virginia Senator Todd Pillion (R-40)

Tom Cox

Trish Nicolson

Vandana Shiva and David

Veronik Avery

Virginia in California

Vivian Zems

Wendy Welch

Yona and family

The Young Grouch

Ysabetwordsmith, a.k.a. Elizabeth Barrette

Zazzle