Do you have a favorite story about Thanksgiving? Something that happened at the table? Something that happened on that day? Or, do you have a folktale that reminds you of the joy of a grateful heart? One story that I love to tell during this season is the Japanese story, "Roly-Poly Rice Ball". I found this story in Margaret Read McDonald's Twenty Tellable Tales.
The story has a common theme. One woodcutter is rewarded simply because he shared his lunch willingly with someone and was grateful for the gift he received. His neighbor is punished for demanding a similar reward and showing bad grace when he received it.
The greedy are often ungrateful and the ungrateful are likely to be greedy. The grateful, on the other hand, understand how to accept a gift and how to share it.
 |
| My apple pie looked every bit as good as this! |
That said, I so missed the hustle and bustle of the holiday - which we have shared with our son, his wife and her family for several years now. So I invited that crew and a few other people for Drop By for Pie. It was last minute inspiration and Thanksgiving weekend is NOT a good weekend for last minute invitations. But the people who appreciate my pie the most showed up. I got my baking urges out without adding significantly to my girth or that of my husband and our pie-loving friends got their pie!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and spent it with someone you love!
