A Little Thanksgiving History

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Today is a national holiday here in the US. It’s a day with many different traditions today, from big meals with family, turkey, pumpkin pie, to parades and Detroit Lions football.

Interestingly the Thanksgiving tradition goes back much further than the 1924 inception of the Macy’s parade in New York. In fact, it predates our young country by more than 150 years.

Early Thanksgiving

The first recorded Thanksgiving in North America was actually held up in Canada in 1587 in celebration of surviving an abortive attempt to find a Northwest passage to the orient. Chalk one up to our neighbors to the North.

In the US, the first formal community wide Thanksgiving celebration was held 32 years later in 1619 on the banks of the James River in Virginia to celebrate the completion of an arduous sea passage.

Interestingly, the early Thanksgiving celebration that is most often looked to as the example didn’t happen until nearly two years later.

The folks that came over on the Mayflower and settled in Plymouth Massachusetts had a rough first year. They landed off Cape Cod in November so they didn’t have much time to prepare for the severe New England winter that they were faced with. It’s likely they didn’t understand how bad it would get.

Nearly half the 102 people who made the voyage across the Atlantic were dead within 6 months after disembarking in 1620 including their first leader John Carver. Most died from starvation and disease, although there were many hazards which could kill a person. Carver apparently died from sunstroke.

By the time the survivors got to their first harvest, they were fired up that they looked to have enough to make it through the second winter. So the 53 Europeans who were left had a big old celebration. It went on for days.

They invited some of their Indian friends who had shown them how to grow some of the crops that did so well. And the Native Americans were so impressed with the feast that they sent some of their hunters into the woods to get some venison for the settlers. Read more

The Christmas Stories

We’re going to shift gears for a moment here at SuccessCREEations because Christmas is one of those holidays when many folks travel to see family. Generosity is a little more acceptable during the Christmas season than at other times during the year. All kinds of interesting things can happen to folks along the way.

New stories are happening to folks all over the globe. And I’m not just talking about one of my favorite Christmas movies either.

Even though I looked a little like Ralphie as a kid with my blond hair and glasses, let the record show that I never actually wanted an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle. Probably only because I didn’t know such a thing existed. If I had, I’m sure I would have wanted it.

Christmas today is seen as a Christian holiday. But the truth is Christians kinda annexed a pagan holiday, changed the name, flavored it to taste, and made it their own. We really don’t have any idea when Jesus was born. Sure the experts and Bible scholars have their theories and opinions. But in the final analysis we can’t be sure of the exact birthday.

In spite of our lack of precise knowledge on the subject of when, we do know a great deal about what happened that first Christmas season.

You hear people talk about the Christmas story. They may even read some words out of the Bible and tell you that’s what happened.

But they often leave some parts out.

Did you know that the Christmas story is really many little stories all playing out at the same time some 2,000 or so years ago in that little backwater corner of the Roman Empire and woven into the tapestry of the greater story?

That first Christmas is not just one story but many. Here are a few you might be less familiar with. Read more

Giving Thanks in 2006

The year was 1863. America was in the middle of an incredibly bloody civil war.

It was a war where the old style massed formations of men marched into the fields with the new repeating rifles to create death on an incredibly large scale.

That year included the battles of Chancelorsville, Vicksburg, Brandy Station, Gettysburg, Secessionville, Chickamaunga, and Chattanooga.

The outcome of the war was very far from certain.

And it was into this uncertainty that the Union President Abraham Lincoln issued his Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving Day. Here’s an excerpt:
Read more

Other People are Critical to Your Success

You’ve probably heard a motivational speaker say something along the lines of

If it is to be it’s up to me.

They’ll tell you that you and you alone are responsible for your success. And that is true as far as it goes.

But it isn’t enough. If you start looking at biographies of successful people you will find that remarkably few (if any) of them achieved their greatness in a vacuum. There were invariably other people around them who filled critical roles in their paths to success.

Read more

Success Principle #6 - Successful People Overcome Fear

Everyone is afraid of something. And most of us have bunches of little fears, worries and apprehensions that we walk around with every day. Some are bigger than others. And some are more rational than others.

One of the things that separates successful people from the wallowing masses trapped in mediocrity out there is their ability to overcome their fears and move beyond them. For so many of us fear paralyzes our potential. It keeps us from moving forward and achieving the success that is calling to us.

I know fear has held me back for years.

The Source of Fear

Fear is hardwired into each of us. It is a natural phenomenon that can be critical to our survival. Read more

Feeding Your Spirit For Success

If you are looking for some quick, pop a pill, stick it in the microwave, pay at the pump, drive through, instant messaging, Blackberry, magic ingredient for success, then let me save you some time. Hit the back button on your browser now. It doesn’t exist.

Even Jesus Christ himself, whose followers believe was the person of God come down to earth, took 30 years to prepare for his mission. And if God took 30 years getting ready is it reasonable for you to think you can somehow stand under someone’s magic wand and get success in an instant?

Of course not.

Shortcutting Success

There are millions of people out there Read more