The first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth in 1621.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Like many of you, I’ll be giving thanks this Thursday with my family, which includes a dozen school-age little ones. While the turkey is roasting, we’ll play some quizzes, cleverly designed to share the history of the pilgrims and the holiday. Here’s a Thanksgiving Day quiz you can play with your kids after the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is over and before the turkey’s on the table.
More trivia with printable Thanksgiving Trivia cards for the kids:
Like taking pop quizzes? Here’s a Facebook page chock full of them! Everything from “How’s Your French” to how well you can identify 80’s songs from the lyrics, Quizfreak UK will keep you amused.
A heavenly sign
Actress/producer Roma Downey (“Touched by an Angel”) and her acting crew were astonished to see while in Morocco filming “A.D.,” the sequel to Downey’s and Mark Burnett’s “The Bible” miniseries, a cloud in the shape of a cross appear in the clear blue sky.
The Blaze reported that while her team worked on a scene depicting Peter and John in front of the Sanhedrin (Acts 4 in the Bible’s Book of Acts), actors Adam Levy, who plays Peter, and Babou Ceesay, who plays John, noticed the apparition.
“There they could see clouds had formed in a completely blue sky in the perfect shape of a cross,” Downey said. “Everyone was stunned and filming stopped, as iPhones came out and everyone was snapping pictures.”
When she shared the image with a pastor, he reminded her of Peter’s sermon in Acts 2:19, during which the apostle quoted the prophet Joel.
The verse reads, in part, “I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.”
“A.D.” is set to air next Easter Sunday.
“You’re just too good to be true”
On Sept. 1, 2014, this fellow took his girlfriend to the All Hail A Capella Show at USC. Watch what happened at the end of the show:
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Thankful for Spider-Man!
The parents of a five-year-old boy who’s battling a grade four brain-stem tumor have been told the little guy has a year to live. Little Jayden loves the cartoon character Spider-Man, so for his fifth birthday, his Dad donned a custom-made Spider-Man suit and surprised him.
Dad wrote: “I’m so proud I managed to do this for him and secretly filmed the surprise with my Go Pro 3+. … Today he is still with us fighting it all the way, but at least he has Spider-Man to take care of him.”
Jayden’s story was picked up by the Daily Mail, which reported that the youngster was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) brain-stem tumor when his parents took him to hospital 15 months ago.
Take a look at the exchange published on YouTube Nov. 16. Now at 6,949,546 views, it’s priceless:
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Here’s Jayden’s Support Facebook Page.
Give thanks by honoring them
On Saturday, Dec. 13, Wreaths Across America hopes to place a Christmas wreath on more than 400,000 graves of every military member buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The goal stands in honor of the cemetery’s 150th anniversary. For the past 22 years, thousands of Americans have come out on the second Saturday in December to remember those who served, placing a red-ribboned, Maine balsam fir wreath against the white gravestones that dot the 624 hillside acres at Arlington. For several years I too have been among those volunteers. It truly is a privilege.
Wreaths Across America’s mission to “Remember, Honor, Teach” is carried out in part by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington, as well as veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.
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WAA also organizes a week of events, including international veterans tributes, ceremonies at State Houses and a week-long “Veteran’s Parade” between Maine and Virginia where trucks laden with thousands of wreaths stop along the way to spread the message about the importance of remembering our fallen heroes, honoring those who serve and teaching our children about the sacrifices made by veterans and their families to preserve our freedoms.
After several public demonstrations about how to make a wreath and why it has become a symbol for our veterans, their service and sacrifice, Morrill Worcester, founder of WreathsAcrossAmerica, created this video explanation. Learn more about this annual Christmas event and how you can give thanks by clicking on Wreaths Across America.
