Happy Thanksgiving Excelsior!

[Cygnus]

I want to wish everyone here at Excelsior a wonderful Thanksgivng day. If I recollect correctly, The American holiday of Thanksgiving was created by then President George Washington to give thanks for the newly formed Union, the Constitution that it was formed under, and to his Creator whom he felt was responsible for his blessings and his unalienable rights and freedoms. But, regardless if you are Christian or not, American or not, religous or not, today is a day we should set aside to give thanks to the people who mean the most to us, family, friends, mentors and to the people who inspire us, whether they know us well or not. And today, I would like to extend a personal thanks to +Colibri. I have been on this shard for over 3 years now and I am truly amazed at how dedicated he is to this community we call Excelsior. I really hope that everyone who plays here truly appreciates the effort that he puts into this world so we can selfishly enjoy a few hours of our day in his world. It really saddens me sometimes to see some players griping about some small and petty things as if they are owed his undivided attention. This is his world and he and his great staff has put together a marvelous,unique and fun shard to play in and we all should feel priviledged to be apart of it. I have seen some nice posts over the years, well deserved by others who see it the way I do, but I am not sure it is enough. Again, I just want you to know +Colibri, that your efforts are turly appreciated by me and I am sure the the overwhelming majority of the player base here. Please continue to to do what you do.

I also want to say thanks to the many players out there who have unselfishly help all those newer players get established in this shard and help them make it their new home. There are many of you out there and that is why this shard as grown to the size it has. Without a caring and helpful player base, this shard would never maintain its player base size. And even though I do not interact much with him, I think it would be totally remiss of me if I didn't give a special thanks to Blaze Budd for all of his efforts. It is players like him that make this shard one of the top shelf shards out there. Thanks Blaze for all you do.

Ther are many more players and staff I would like to give thanks for but I decided to do this off the top of my head and I do not want to overlook anyone and make them feel left out. I do appreciate all of your effrots . Thank you and again, Happy Thanksgiving Excelsior! I look forward to many more Thanksgivings here.

[Ceara]

Many Presidents gave speeches, and declared days of Thanksgiving. The dates varied between October and December.

The modern Thanksgiving was not formally set until 1941, when Roosevelt declared it a "law" for the fourth Thursday every November.

In my opinion, the American Thanksgiving is too late in the year. The REAL Thanksgiving should be a Harvest Supper, the time when all gather to celebrate the harvest. It's a very old tradition to give thanks for a great and plentiful harvest that will feed everyone for the long winter ahead. Rich and poor alike gathered to feast, usually followed by music, country dance, and lots of homemade adult beverages from apples or grain grown on the farm. Winters long ago were serious business, when many died from malnutrition or environmental exposure. One never knew how many lives would be lost each winter.

Everyone should give thanks every day for what they have, and not set aside only one day a year to be thankful.

But I also thank Colibri for running a super shard, and the many wonderful people that play. I only wish I had more time to spend with you all, because you make my game time so much fun.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and didn't stuff themselves too much.

Now, where's my holiday goodie bag in the game? lol