I asked Matt this morning if he understood what Thanksgiving means. Yes, he said, and started on the history of the first European immigrants to Canada. I stopped him (shame on me) and talked about those lovely abstract words: gratitude, security, safety, freedom, and so on. But I was thinking about him later and I remembered Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635 ) and his first winter over in the New World when his men all got scurvy and they learned from the natives about acetylsalicylic acid and willow bark tea. That’s when they started The Order of Good Cheer—such a good idea.

“At the height of the cold weather in 1606-7, Samuel de Champlain proposed that a social club, The Order of Good Cheer, be established to keep the men's spirits up. Each night one of the men would plan and prepare the food for the banquet.” Wikipedia

We need one now to get through this bland, flat, lethal vigil.