Our European Christmas Cruise is one week old today.  But first, tomorrow will be  Thanksgiving , a tradition that began in the U.S. in 1619 with the English settlers on the ship Margaret in Virginia. Of course, this continued with the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1621. Our first President, George Washington, proclaimed 26November1789 as a day of thanks. President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863 as the final Thursday in November. But in 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt changed this holiday to the next to last Thursday in November to boost the economy, adding an extra week for Christmas shopping. This was not popular, so in 1942, Congress changed the official national Thanksgiving Day to the fourth Thursday in November, a compromise, for this day sometimes is not the final Thursday of the month. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy acknowledged that both Virginia and Massachusetts were the first. We are in  Germany , and they do celebrate Thanksgivi...

  A frenchie wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving, which is not celebrated in Japan with a turkey meal.  However, more and more families do get together to express some thanks.  With Japanese food.  However,  Kentucky Fried Chicken has become a Christmas tradition here . In 1970 Takeshi Okawara opened the first KFC outlet in Nagoya. In his fourth year, he launched a Kentucky for Christmas (KFC) campaign. My Old Kentucky Home  complemented party barrels of chicken in gatherings, This practice has so much taken over that unless you advance order KFC days ahead of time, you will be left in the lurch. Looks like I'll now need to fit-in a KFC meal before I leave Japan. Our Japan train trip has shifted from lazy and disappointing to wow.  Part of the reason has to do with the two Sheraton hotels in Hiroshima and Kagoshima, which are excellent.  We also are eating a lot better because of these hotel breakfast and executive club.  Plus we actually had an ...