As critical as I am of many things that go on in, and at the hands of, our country, I’m not ashamed to say that I am so grateful to be an American. I’m excited to be hosting Thanksgiving for the first time ever, and looking for some ways to make our celebration meaningful and innovative. I’m obliged, for the purposes of shalom bayit to keep the menu fairly traditional, and discovering that an awful lot of Thanksgiving sides are milchig. Oh well, no green bean casserole for my husband this year. As for the celebration itself, I found a nice list of ideas at Freedom’s Feast, which also offers a few choices for a Thanksgiving “ceremonies.” Seders, really, but without the Hebrew. Ima on the Bima has her own versions of a Thanksgiving seder here. With Hebrew, of course.
If you plan on singing God Bless America, try to do a better job than this.