This is a not a pleasant story, but it's true. And I'm sure it will make some readers angry. I'll risk it as life doesn't always offer happy endings, but it does offer lessons.

It was the day before Thanksgiving, and a big, fat turkey was strutting around our barnyard, gobbling up the feed we threw to her. "Isn’t Gracias lucky she lives with us?" my daughter, Heather, commented. "Otherwise, she’d be someone’s Thanksgiving dinner." Gracias was our beautiful Bronze turkey that we had raised from a baby. She adored us.

"All our animals are lucky," replied my son, Justin. "They came to us, and we gave them a good home. Our animals are to play with, not to eat."

When the entire menagerie was fed, we all climbed in the car and drove to the supermarket to buy the food for our Thanksgiving dinner. Our family has a tradition of sharing the shopping and cooking for our feast so everyone feels they have contributed to the ceremony. We decorate our home with cornstalks, different-colored pumpkins, gourds, and Indian corn from our garden and the kids’ drawings of turkeys and pilgrims. Thanksgiving is a time of giving thanks for all our blessings, our education, our jobs, our health, our home, and our family.

At the supermarket, we bought a twenty-five pound turkey and the other ingredients we’d need for our meal. All the way home, Heather and Justin were singing, joyfully looking forward to this very special family time. But when we pulled into our driveway, we realized something was terribly wrong. The dogs were barking crazily, people were yelling, and we could hear shrieks from the barnyard at the top of the hill.

We leaped from the car and ran as fast as we could up the hill. What we saw stopped us in our tracks. The torn bodies of our animals were scattered everywhere. Some were still writhing and moaning.

Our neighbor’s vicious dog stood in their midst. He had obviously escaped his cage and dug under our fences. Near his blood-spattered feet lay several chickens and our favorite mother duck. He stared at us sullenly, Gracias writhing in his mouth. We pried his teeth apart, but we were too late. Within minutes, she died in the arms of the children. We all began to sob and wail, our hearts broken by this tragedy.

Then anger set in. We wanted to kill this malicious monster who had murdered so many of our pets. But that would make us murderers too. We carefully pulled ourselves together. The neighbors, who were as sad as we were, arrived to retrieve their killer dog, promising never to let him escape again. We set to burying the dead.

I wondered whether this mayhem had been a sign from God that Gracias was meant to be a Thanksgiving turkey. We put our store-bought turkey in the freezer. As we began the sad task of plucking, cleaning, and preparing Gracias for the table, we said a few prayers and gave thanks for the joy that she had brought into our lives.

Although it began so disastrously, we will always remember that Thanksgiving as one of the most special days we have spent together as a family. We learned the value of life and how quickly it can be taken away. We learned to appreciate each other and all living creatures. We felt grateful for our ability, even in the face of sadness, to forgive the neighbors’ dog for doing what came naturally to him.

The next day, we went to work making our pens and barnyard safer and sturdier. We dug trenches two feet deep and filled them with cement as a footing for a chain-link fence, topped by an electric barricade. It was several years before we were brave enough to raise another turkey. Because of the lessons we learned and the actions we took on that Thanksgiving so many years ago, our new turkey will live out his years as a barnyard pet. Heather became a vegetarian that day and together we continue to rescue and adopt abandoned animals.

Be grateful for what you have. When we are grateful, we are rewarded with a sense of honor and personal strength. Say "thank-you," for every gift you receive, positive or negative. Life may be giving you a lesson in appreciation. Learn to be grateful for everything. Gratitude exalts the heart.

The more gratitude you show in life,
the more you will have to be grateful for.

Wishing you a very healthy, happy, and playful Thanksgiving...with or without the turkey.
Blessings and gratefulness for being a part of Peoplejam,
Coach Cynthia Brian