Of the Giving of Thanks
Disclaimer: I only own the cousins!
Rose sighed for the sixth time in three minutes. Eight-year-old Lucy finally looked up from her embroidery (which Susan was forcing her to do) and asked, "What is wrong with you?"
"What do you mean, Lu?"
"You've sighed twice a minute for the past three minutes! Whatever is the matter?"
"I'm sorry, Lucy; I didn't mean to disturb you."
Lucy groaned. "You didn't do anything; I'm just concerned about my friend! What's wrong, Rose?"
"Nothing." At Lucy's incredulous look, Rose sighed (again). "Well, maybe something is. But it's nothing to concern you."
"Rose Lily Baker, you tell me what is the matter! I'll make that an order if I have to!"
"Well… I just miss my family. Especially now."
"Why now?"
The knight forcibly exhaled. "A week from tomorrow would be Thanksgiving at home."
"Thanksgiving? I've heard of it, but that's an American…. Oh, right, I forget you three are American."
Rose chuckled. "Right, we are. Usually by this time, my mom is making a list of the things she needs from the store so that she can cook for church, her side of the family's dinner, and my dad's side of the family's dinner, too."
"Wow. You guys have a lot of dinners."
"Yep. Hannah and Faith have the same amount. At least I think they do."
"Now, which side are they again?"
"OK, this can be confusing. My dad's mom had two sisters and one brother. The brother is their moms' dad. So I'm related to them on my dad's side and their moms' side."
"And their moms are sisters?"
"Correct."
"Your family tree is very complicated."
"I know, it is. At least I'm not trying to explain Jade and James and his brothers!"
"No, but you have before." Lucy shook her head. "Back to Thanksgiving. What would you usually do on Thanksgiving?"
"Well, we eat, and play, and avoid my brother, and… that's about all we do. Faith and Hannah might do more with their families, though."
"We might do more for what?" Faith asked, as she entered the room.
"Thanksgiving. Lucy was asking about our traditions."
"Ah. What did you tell her?" Faith sat down beside her cousin.
"I told her that we eat, play, and avoid the boys."
"Well, that's about all we do, too. Hannah says that their family sits down and names things they're thankful for."
"That's a good idea," Rose commented.
"Yeah, maybe we should do the same thing this year."
"Thanksgiving sounds like fun! Should we celebrate it?" Lucy asked.
Faith pursed her lips. "Hmm, I don't know."
"Why shouldn't we?"
"We might accidentally feed Hannah and Peter's constant feud. You'd think we were fighting the Revolutionary War all over again!"
All of them laughed. "That's true…" Rose gasped out, trying to contain her laughter.
"What's true?" Susan queried as she walked in.
"Hannah and Peter need no extra reminders of the sketchy history between America and England," Faith finally was able to control herself.
Susan joined in the laughter. "No indeed. They fight about that so often, it's a wonder they talk about anything else!"
"I know! And when Peter has to concede defeat, the conquering look on her face…" Lucy trailed off.
"Priceless," Rose finished.
"Absolutely," Susan agreed.
"Anyway, we should go enlist the cook's help with our Thanksgiving meal. We'll need…"
Eight days later, Peter, Hannah, and Edmund were walking toward the dining hall for supper when the door opened a tad and Lucy rushed out. "Don't go in there yet!"
"Why not?" Hannah questioned.
"You just can't. It's a surprise."
"All right…" A couple of minutes later, Faith poked her head out and said, "We're ready!"
"Let's go!" Lucy seized Hannah's hand and began pulling her toward the room.
"What's going on, Lucy?" Hannah asked as the door opened. She gasped as she saw how the girls had decorated the hall. Homemade paper leaves decorated the table and wall, being joined on the wall by simply drawn Pilgrims and Indians. A turkey sat in the center of the table, surrounded by mashed potatoes, rolls, baked beans, broccoli and rice casserole (where did that come from?), and corn casserole (again, where did they get that?). "Happy Thanksgiving!" Susan, Faith, Rose, and Lucy shouted.
"Wow. How long have you four been planning this?"
"A week," Faith announced proudly.
"Do you like it?" Lucy asked worriedly.
"Of course I do! It's an amazing surprise." Hannah hugged all four of the girls. She turned to the boys. "Did you two know about this?"
"No," they replied simultaneously.
"Come on; let's eat before the food gets cold!" Lucy tugged Hannah and Peter toward the table. The High King sat at the head of the table, with Susan and Hannah on either side of him. Lucy claimed the seat beside Hannah, with Edmund across from her. Rose and Faith exchanged glances before racing to see who would be first to the chair next to Lucy. Rose won, and Faith plopped into the place alongside Edmund. The seven joined hands and Peter blessed the food and thanked Aslan for all He had given them. Then, they ate. They laughed together, the girls sharing Thanksgiving memories from the other world. The Pevensies told childhood tales of each other. After the children had finished eating, Faith and Rose got up and retrieved dessert.
Hannah laughed. "Rose, I never thought I'd see your turkey cookies again." Lifting one of them, she examined it, smiling at the icing eyes, nose, and… tail? Whatever the thing that looks like a peacock's fan is.
"Yeah, I couldn't use M'n'ms or candy corn this year, so I improvised."
Hannah bit into the cookie. "Good, as always." Investigating the other desserts, she saw… "Is that a chocolate chip pie?"
Faith beamed. "Yeah. I didn't have your recipe, but I did the best I could."
"I'm sure it's great."
"Pass the desserts around, please," Edmund begged, fastening his eyes on the pie.
After dessert, the seven of them began listing the things they were thankful for. "I'm thankful for spring," Lucy began.
"I'm thankful for my siblings," Peter added.
"And I for my cousins," Hannah added. They continued that way for several minutes, until Edmund, who had been silent up to that point, said, "I'm thankful for death."
All of them turned to look at him strangely. "Death?" Rose asked.
"Yes, death."
"Would you mind explaining that?" Hannah asked, voicing everyone's concerns.
He chuckled. "If there wasn't death, Aslan couldn't have died for me. And if Aslan hadn't have died for me, I wouldn't love Him so much."
Susan squeezed his hand. "That's very wise of you, little brother." There was nothing more to say after that. Hannah rose after a couple of minutes and said, "Happy Thanksgiving, everyone."
"Happy Thanksgiving!" they chorused.
A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers!
