Each Thanksgiving morning, I heat the casseroles and pies I made the night before in the oven, childhood excitement filling me as a catch snippets of the parade on TV.  I always wish we could delay our departure until my boys get a glimpse of Santa (the parade’s caboose), but we must make it to my uncle’s house by lunchtime.  We pile into the car, warm dishes in our laps (so I won’t have to worry about them toppling over in the trunk), and drive to our extended family gathering.  Hugs, laughter, and feasting commence.  When the last crumb of pie has been savored, unlike bidding adieu to Christmas, I’m never sad.  There is so much anticipation in the air on Thanksgiving.  The holidays are upon us!

One Is a Feast for Mouse:  A Thanksgiving Tale captures the coziness of Thanksgiving Day after the big meal.  My children and I discovered this book at the library a couple of years ago, and it has become a November favorite.  Judy Cox puts no lid on the pot of descriptive language, and I love how it bubbles over in the text.

A home for mouse!

In a humorous way, since the mouse protagonist piles up more leftover food than he could ever fit inside his little hole in the cuckoo clock, it reminds us of our heaping plates at Thanksgiving.  As dad and mom are sleeping in front of the TV, the family cat sees to it that the mouse doesn’t end up with the precarious collection of turkey and trimmings.  In the end—quite providentially—the mouse does get a mouse-sized feast.  This book gently illustrates that although we may not have everything our big eyes could possibly desire, we have all we need.  “Give thanks!”

A pea is a feast for mouse!

Happy Thanksgiving!