Nigel, age 9, verbal but still learning sentence structure:

“Why you think it’s Thursday?”

Translation: Why is Thanksgiving celebrated on Thursdays? Why not Wednesdays, or any other day of the week?

So I told him about Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation, but of course, that does not address his choice of the day of the week. Here we are, five years later, and I’m still looking for the answer. Apparently, George Washington issued an announcement in 1789 that November 26 would be Thanksgiving Day, and it was a Thursday. But why did he choose Thursday? This article states that Washington got the idea from Jonathan Belcher, a governor in New England who, in 1730, proclaimed that Thursday, November 12 was to be a day of thanks throughout the province.

Nigel’s words still echo in my head, five years later: “Why you think it’s Thursday?”

Anybody have any other ideas? I’m off to make mashed potatoes now. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!