Thursday 11/24/22
Celebrate:
Brownielocks Day
Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day
D.B. Cooper Day
Family Health History Day
National Day of Mourning
National Sardines Day
National Use Even If Seal is Broken Day
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Fans of the beloved turkey, stuffing and mashed potato leftover sandwich: You're in the majority. Most Americans prefer Thanksgiving leftovers to the actual meal. Almost eight in 10 Americans agree that the second helpings of stuffing, mashed potatoes and of course pie beat out the big dinner itself, according to a 2015 Harris Poll
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The Busiest day of the year for plumbers is Black Friday. Thanks to all that food we gobble up on Thanksgiving and houseguests stressing out the plumbing system, Roto-Rooter reports that kitchen drains, garbage disposals and yes, toilets, require more attention the day after Thanksgiving than any other day. Before you have to join the legions paying a hefty holiday bill, you may want to remind your kitchen clean-up crew to scrape the plates before washing.
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Turkeys are (kind of) named after the country.
During the reign of the Ottoman Empire, a bird called the guinea fowl — which bears a striking resemblance to the American turkey — was imported to Europe from its native North Africa. Because the birds came from Turkish lands, Europeans called them the turkey-cock and turkey-hen. When settlers in the Americas began sending similar-looking birds back to Europe, the name had already stuck!
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TV Dinners were the result of Thanksgiving. In 1953, a Swanson employee accidentally ordered a colossal shipment of Thanksgiving turkeys (260 tons, to be exact). To deal with the excess, salesman Gerry Thomas took inspiration from the prepared foods served on airplanes. He came up with the idea of filling 5,000 aluminum trays with the turkey – along with cornbread dressing, gravy, peas and sweet potatoes to complete the offering. The 98-cent meals were a hit, especially with kids and increasingly busy households.
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Writer and editor Sarah Josepha Hale convinced President Abraham Lincoln to officially declare Thanksgiving a national holiday after three decades of persistent lobbying. The author also founded the American Ladies Magazine, which promoted women's issues long before suffrage. She wrote countless articles and letters, advocating for Thanksgiving to help unify the Northern and Southern states amid gathering divisions. Hale kept at it, even after the Civil War broke out, and Lincoln actually wrote the proclamation just a week after her last letter in 1863, earning her the name the Mother of Thanksgiving. She is also the creator of Mary Had A Little Lamb.
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While most of us enjoy turkey as the centerpiece of our Thanksgiving table, no one can say for sure whether it was even on the menu back in 1621. However, the original guests did indulge in other foods like lobster, seal and swan. The Wampanoag also reportedly brought five deer to the celebration.
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In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge was gifted a live raccoon, who was intended to be on the table instead of a turkey for the First Family's Thanksgiving meal. He and First Lady Grace Coolidge weren't inclined to eat the masked creature, however. Instead, they adopted the raccoon, gave her the name Rebecca, and kept her as a White House pet.
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George A. Richards, a former owner, purchased the Portsmouth Ohio Spartans in 1934 and moved them to Detroit. Rebranded as the Detroit Lions, George decided to host a Thanksgiving Day game against the world-champion Chicago Bears in hopes of attracting fans. The team has always played on Thanksgiving except between 1939-1944 due to World War II. The Dallas Cowboys also joined in on the Turkey Day tradition in 1966 and have played every Thanksgiving except in 1975 and 1977.
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