Today is Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday of November.  The four children at 1321 Lake Avenue sit around the dinner table and are about to ask their mother why the turkey still sits in the freezer when the doorbell rings.  She leaves the dining room to see who’s at the front door.  The children speak among themselves. 

‘Thanksgiving Dinner without turkey?’

‘Who does that?’

‘Vegetarians.’

‘People without ovens.’

‘People without turkeys.’

‘People who don’t give thanks.’

All heads turn to five year-old Amanda, the youngest of the siblings.

‘Who doesn’t give thanks?’

‘People who are ungrateful.’

‘Are we ungrateful?’

‘We’re complaining about not having turkey when the table is full of food.’

‘There’s pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, fresh stuffing, fruit cake.’

‘I see green beans, squash, butter and bread rolls.’

‘Amanda’s right, we should be thankful for what we have not for what we could have had.’

Their mother comes into the dining room.  An elderly woman follows behind her. 

‘Children, this is Mrs Gupta.  She’s our new neighbor and her family is in India.  Shall we ask her to join us for Thanksgiving Dinner?’

‘Yes!  Yes!’  The children shout together.

Amanda gets out of her chair and rushes to pull out an empty chair for Mrs Gupta.  Amanda grabs the woman’s hand and leads her to the chair.

‘Let us pray,’ their mother says.  They fold their hands and bow their heads.

Mrs Gupta folds her hands and bows her head. She says a silent prayer, ‘Dear Lord, thank you for blessing me with this lovely family who has opened their hearts and home to me.  Bless their mother for understanding that I could only accept her Thanksgiving invitation if there was no turkey because as part of my religion, I don’t eat meat on Thursdays.’