Thankful Tuesday

From Teacher Mary this week…

In November of 1980, just weeks into Friends School’s very first year of existence, the ten children who comprised our entire student body invited their parents to join them for “Thankful Soup” on the day before Thanksgiving vacation. The children worked for days preparing a feast for their guests. They’d picked apples and made applesauce. They prepared corn bread. They all brought vegetables and other soup ingredients from home and made a huge pot of Thankful Soup.



I attended that first gathering as the parent of a 6-year-old Friends School first grader. I was an eye-witness to the fact that although the soup was lovingly prepared, it was also just dreadful. The child cooks hadn’t been allowed to use very sharp knives and their little hands got tired, so the diners encountered enormous pieces of potato and carrot and turnip as we spooned the poorly seasoned, watery soup into our bowls. Some of us required knives and forks, not just soup spoons. It was impossible, though, to be disdainful about the food in the face of such enthusiastic young cooks. So, we shared that first Thankful Soup as we sat in tiny chairs around tables in the school’s one-and-only basement classroom. As we ate, the gratitude in the room felt like a tangible thing, a fellow guest. The project of starting a school had been a major one for all of us and for just a few moments in that whirlwind of a year, we stopped and gave thanks. It was sweet and warming, profound and sustaining.

Our Thanksgiving traditions have evolved with the growth of the school. We eventually outgrew both our original space and our student-made soup. We don’t let go of traditions easily, though, and we kept serving that same terrible soup for years. Finally, when our guest list began to consistently top 100, we admitted that the tradition had become a little too ambitious for a bunch of 7-year-old sous chefs. So, we bid good-bye to Thankful Soup (some of us quite gleefully), and tried a number of variations on the theme until we finally settled on our current celebration. We had a year of Thankful Muffins, and I think there was a Thankful Cookies year, too. We’ve gathered in small classrooms, in large Community Rooms, and in buildings old and new. The constant thread for me, though, has been one special moment that happens each year, a moment when I close my eyes for just a second in the midst of whatever hubbub we’ve created that particular year and just say ‘thanks’. It’s a touchstone in my year, one that anchors me personally and in a larger sense, too. I remember Thankful Tuesday the year I turned 40, the year I became a grandmother, the year our country went to war, and the year we elected a new president. I remember marking the day during years that were difficult for our school and during years when we celebrated.

Next Tuesday, the Friends School community will gather for the thirty-second time for our Thankful Tuesday observation. Parents will bring their brown bags to our classrooms and have lunch in tiny chairs. We’ll gather in the Community Room to watch our students present the special performances they’ve been practicing, little Thanksgiving gifts for their families. The Peace Choir will sing like angels and bring tears to our eyes. In this year when our larger community has been rocked to its core and our hearts can’t stop aching, I believe that Friends School’s tradition will once again warm and sustain us. I know that the thanks I say when I close my eyes for that moment next week will be for the trust I have in our school community, for its ability to hold us during hard times, and for the safe and loving atmosphere it has provided for our children for a very long time. Whether it’s your first time or your thirty-second, I hope you’ll join us.


ANNOUNCEMENTS & REMINDERS:

Thankful Tuesday: Please join us for this annual celebration on Tuesday, November 22. Here’s the schedule for the day:

11:15: Parents are welcome to join children in classrooms for lunch. Both children and parents should bring their own packed lunch.

12 Noon: All-school gathering in Community Room for a few selections from the Peace Choir, presentations by each classroom, and a couple of our traditional songs for all of us

1:00 p.m.: All-school recess, weather permitting

We have a full day of school on Thankful Tuesday and our After School Program will operate until 5:30. However, if you’d like to get an early start on your Thanksgiving travels, parents are welcome to take students home at the end of our festivities at 1:00.

Foxdale Thank-You: We want to thank Foxdale Village for a unique and generous donation. Because of a resident’s gift, Foxdale is able to present each of its employees with a Weis gift card as a holiday gift. This year, Foxdale purchased the cards through our school’s gift card program and this generated over $1000 for Friends School. Your use of Giant and Weis gift cards can really add up. Please consider purchasing your grocery cards through the school. We will have them available at Thankful Tuesday. Collectively, it can make a big difference.

Cookie Decorating: We’ll have a cookie decorating party during the After School Program on Thursday, December 1. Please check your child’s Friday Folder for details.

School Photos: Sabine Carey began school photos this week and has completed the K/1 and 2/3 classes. The rest of the students will be photographed as follows:

4th and 5th Grades: Tuesday, November 29

Middle School: Wednesday, November 30

Make-Ups: December 2 (and December 6 and 7, as needed)

Parent Workshop: Our Quaker Life Committee will be hosting a light supper and discussion on Wednesday, November 30 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The discussion will focus on consumerism and will include a viewing of the short film “The Story of Stuff”. Child care will be available, but please call or email in advance if you’ll need it.



Have a really great weekend with your really great children.





Mary Ziegler