The turkey is in the oven and it smells so GREAT that I want to eat some RIGHT NOW! Patience, patience… But in lieu of my traditional postings, I am going to share some fun facts about Thanksgiving. Hope you learn something!
The first thanksgiving celebration was in 1631 and it lasted 3 days – 50 Pilgrims, 90 Indians, but only 5 women! Turkey wasn’t on the menu. Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday on October 3, 1863 – why? Because Josepha Hale (wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb) convinced Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday after writing letters for 17 years. Four towns in the US are named ‘Turkey’: Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina. Average # of calories consumed at a Thanksgiving meal is 4500. Butterball answers more than 100,000 turkey-related questions on their turkey hot-line in November and December.
The first Thanksgiving football game was in 1876 between Yale & Princeton; first NFL games in 1920. 54 million Americans are expected to travel this year during the Thanksgiving weekend (up from last year). A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was first aired on November 20, 1973. Ben Franklin wanted our national bird to be a turkey!!! Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was in 1924 and featured live animals from the Central Park Zoo. Snoopy has made the most appearances in Macy’s parade, between 1968 and 2015, then again in 2019. Jingle Bells was originally a Thanksgiving Day song.
46 Million turkeys are cooked every Thanksgiving. Eating turkey DOESN’T make you tired (???). George H W Bush was the first president to pardon a turkey in 1989. Black Friday is the busiest day for plumbers!!!
On this day in 1865 Alice in Wonderland was published, and in 1942 Casablanca premiered in NYC. In 1985 Random House bought Richard Nixon’s memoires for $3,000,000. (Who said there wasn’t money to be made in writing memoires???). Our beloved and esteemed Charles Schulz was born in 1922 and Robert Goulet in 1933 (my Mom’s favorite!). And in 1962 Tina and Ike Turner were married.
TOMORROW November 27 is:
- National Bavarian Cream Pie Day
- National Craft Jerky Day
- National Day of Listening
- National Native American Heritage Day – Day After Thanksgiving
- Black Friday
- Buy Nothing Day – (That will be ME!!)
- Flossing Day
- Maize Day
- You’re Welcomegiving Day
I’m pretty sure all of us have someone we would love to have around our table today but circumstances prevent that. We can pray for God to give us joy and peace in our hearts and know that He is still on the throne, and in control! So have a beautiful, thankful day, however you celebrate. God is good, and gives all good things! We can be thankful every single day – God bless —
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