Today is Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday. There is no mail delivery and government offices, schools, and financial institutions are closed as are most businesses, although some are starting Black Friday sales.
Many government offices will remain closed tomorrow as well, including state and county offices in Nebraska. For the city of Chadron, tomorrow’s closures include City Transit, city hall and the library.
U-S Senator Deb Fischer, in her Thanksgiving message, urges Nebraskans marking the holiday with family and friends to give thanks for their many blessings, but also to think of others.
Senator Fischer also expresses her gratitude for the opportunity to work for the people of Nebraska every day in the United States Senate and to those serving in the military for their sacrifices..
Fellow Senator and former Gov Pete Ricketts is also encouraging Nebraskans to take the meaning of Thanksgiving to heart and action.
Ricketts says he feels blessed to represent a state where most residents are willing to step up and help those in need.
3rd District Congressman Adrian Smith of Gering says as households across the nation gather to celebrate our many blessings and feast on the fruits of hardworking farmers and ranchers, he’s struck by the debt of thanks we owe as Americans.
     Smith says “From the remarkable series of events that brought Massachusetts natives and Mayflower passengers to the same table more than four centuries ago, to the sovereign grace which has unified generations of Americans to face and overcome each of their harrowing challenges, Thanksgiving is about coming together.Â
The idea of setting aside a specific day to give thanks for life and its blessings dates back thousands of years through many civilizations, cultures and religions…but the American celebration started with the Pilgrims.
The religious refugees who founded the Plymouth Colony in 1620 marked their first harvest a year later with a feast of Thanksgiving.
The date was formalized by Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War as the last Thursday in November, with Congress later fine-tuning that to the 4th Thursday of the month.
While turkey is the traditional main course of a Thanksgiving dinner, Benjamin Franklin wanted to give it a more prestigious place in American history. He thought the turkey and not the bald eagle should be the national symbol.
In backing the turkey over the eagle as the nation’s symbol, Benjamin Franklin said the eagle was a thief and coward that represented centuries of European tyranny while the turkey was smarter and braver than the eagle and had been a vital source of food for the early colonists. Â