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5 Pies and a Lulav

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L.L. here, for Thanksgiving. With five pies and a lulav.

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that challenges my tendencies towards simplicity.

Two kinds of potatoes, mashed-white and whipped-sweet with sugared pecan topping. Green beans with garlic and butter. Stuffing. Orange-cranberry sauce. Turkey (yes, even at my veggie-lovin' table). And the pies... oh, the pies!

Somewhere along the line I started making five pies for Thanksgiving. Pumpkin, pecan, cherry, apple and blueberry. Well, there's no turning back now. Everybody waits for the pies.

Last year, we added a new dimension to our celebration, based on the biblical harvest festival of Sukkot. We had Grandpa read one of the traditional Psalms and we made a lulav (from pine branches and other assorted greens). Then we gave the lulav to the littlest child, along with a lemon, and marched around the house behind her saying, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good."

Right before the five-pie part, we each received a piece of fruit on our plates, which we put into an empty basket on the table. Silently, we gave thanks for whatever secret thing we wanted to give thanks for; later, my sister-in-law said that was her absolute favorite part. She said she wanted to cry.

In the end, that's what abundance can do. Especially if we've lived in an ordinary way for the rest of the year. Five pies, a lulav, a child marching, filling a basket with thanks... gives us awe.

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Cherry Thanksgiving art by L.L. Barkat. Post by L.L. too.

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Christianity Today's Marching Farmers, Homeless Slaves shares more about Sukkot and explains the lulav and other biblical harvest festival traditions

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