In the United States, the last Thursday during the month of November is simply known as "Thanksgiving Day." The tradition in America is for everyone to take the day off of work to prepare and eat a big turkey dinner complete with bread stuffing, corn or green beans (cooked in bacon), hot rolls and butter, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams or sweet potatoes (baked in brown sugar with melted marshmallows on top) and for desert, pumpkin pie with ice cream and real whipped cream on top. If you have a wood burning fire place you might place some chestnuts in a foil packet to roast...The aroma of this dinner cooking all day just makes your mouth water, it smells that good. Some people go so far as to set their alarm clocks for 4:00AM in the morning, to wake up early enough to pat the bird dry, fill 'em with stuffing, sprinkle 'em with salt & pepper, and wrestle the huge 15+ pound bird into the oven.

Once Upon a Time...

Where did this tradition begin? Christopher Columbus left Spain, in April of 1492, determined to steer his ships (the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria) to find a short-cut to India. His purpose and goal in exploring the world was to export the precious and valuable Indian spices back to Europe, specifically back to the Queen, in Spain. Instead, on October 12th, his 3 ships ran into a piece of land, so they all went ashore. Through the ages, the story has been told that Christopher Columbus was so happy to have landed, that when he went on shore (dry land), he reportedly threw himself on his knees, kissed the earth, and gave thanks to God. (The longest of those 3 ships that Christopher Columbus sailed on was only 63 feet long so he had been tossed around pretty violently before finding land to walk on again.)

Christopher Columbus did happen to find people on this far-away land and since he was looking India and believed he had found India, he assumed those people were Indians! Hence, the people that he did find, the people who were native to America, then came to be known as the Native American Indians.

That November, the Native American Indians shared their food and good-fortune by preparing a meal, not just any meal, but a feast for all to give thanks. They especially gave thanks for Christopher Columbus' safe journey on those three small ships navigated through the treacherous, icy waters of Atlantic Ocean, and the discovery of the new land, America. And that, boys, girls and darters everywhere, was the very first Thanksgiving Day meal in America.

Today, What is The Point?

The whole point of Thanksgiving Day is to spend the day with the family and friends who mean the most to you in this world - to give "thanks" for everyone that you are blessed (enough) to have in your life.

Andy and Sherilyn at The Sponge Reef
Thanksgiving Day, '2008
(Side Note: After dinner, the tryptophan in the turkey made Christopher Columbus very tired, so he took a nap. He did wake up in time, though, for "Black Friday" - that crazy frenzied day-after-Thanksgiving-Day-sale, the Thanksgiving Day Weekend Sales and the new Cyber-Monday. Yes, by 4:00AM the next morning, Christopher Columbus was shopping at his favorite retail stores to get all the great deals - and he was so very thankful that he proclaimed the Holiday Season had officially started.

There was a worldwide countdown until 12/25/1492, when Santa Claus was scheduled to arrive, led by all of his reindeer, especially Rudolph. Santa Claus came with gifts for the children who had been "good" all year long - even those children who did not have a fireplace in their home, and after delivering the presents, he took a moment in each home, to eat the cookies that were left out for him.

Then Santa continued on his merry way to deliver all the other presents, straight from the North Pole. My, my, my...There were dartboards with shiny new darts, flights galore, an endless supply of flight-protectors, every type of dart shaft imaginable, new team shirts personally embroidered for every youth darter, and for the really, really, really good children there was an abundance of dart books, in every language that one could possibly understand!

Forgive me for digressing. Let's return to the subject at hand, throwing darts on Thanksgiving Day...)

Giving Thanks for Darts...

What day, even the holiday of Thanksgiving Day, would be complete without throwing some darts?

Luckily, The Sponge Reef kept its doors open on the holiday for their customers. One of the pub owners, Rick Ford (pictured at left), provided a spread of turkey sandwiches for his customers who found their way to the pub...Indeed, Rick himself, cooked 3 turkeys for his customers, and one of his customers even brought in a deep-fried turkey.

At first there were only one or two stragglers that came through the doors at The Reef, Bill, then Mike, and then Shaun...and before the night ended almost every seat at the bar was taken. Everyone was in good mood after eating turkey with family and then meeting up with friends at The Reef to share a moment or two of cheer.

Hmmmm, lots of good cheer with good people, good music and occasionally even some good darts! It was a good day, no, an outstanding and stellar kind-of Thanksgiving Day!

I Need Practice!

There is something wrong with the picture to the right, and it is not the fish hanging on the wall in the background, smoking a cigarette even though there isn't any smoking allowed in the pub!

No, there is something else very wrong with this picture! This is because my opponent (and husband) Andy is cleaning the scoreboard, after cleaning my clock. My darts were poor so he deserved to win but I would have preferred to be in the picture myself, after victoriously throwing that last winning dart.

With dart league on hiatus for the winter holidays, the mood at the line is very laid back...

My pitiful score is on the left with my opponent's winning darts in the bull...
It is games like this that inspire me to practice more, much more.

Pictured Above: Mike, AKA "Elvis", spinning tunes for the Thanksgiving Day crowd at The Sponge Reef. Everyone in the pub listened to Elvis Presley songs, Roger Miller ("Got Two Again", "King of the Road") and many others that we all sang out loud to! Mike not only took requests but he even turned the volume up for the best songs. (Note: This is a horrible place for the practice board at the pub. When Mike is playing tunes, he would prefer that darters do not use this dartboard to warm-up, no matter how skillful they might be.)

To everyone in the world, happy Thanksgiving and happy early holidays. May you have safe travels this season and be lucky enough to spend time with those family and friends whom you love most in the world.

As always, shoot well and I'll see you at the line.