Turkey Day Trivia!

Heya boys and girls, I hope you're having a great Thanksgiving.  If you happen to read this blog post before you go to your turkey dinner, then you can amaze your family with your knowledge of TDay trivia!

• Did you know that Canada celebrates Thanksgiving too?  Just on a different day, the second Monday in October.  
• The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by pilgrims in the fall of 1621...that's right, 390 years ago!
• Oh and the first Thanksgiving?  It lasted THREE days!
• It lasted three days...and they probably didn't even eat turkey!  Most likely they ate mostly venison (deer) and seafood for their meat.
• AND, they ate all of that with a knife, a spoon, and...their fingers!  No forks!  (Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts introduced forks 10 years later, but they didn't catch on for nearly another hundred years)
• It was considered good manners at the first Thanksgiving to spit on the ground, throw bones in the fire, and eat with your hands.  (I don't recommend trying any of these this year thou!)
• These days we think about all the things we're greatful for at Thanksgiving like a good job, good family, a nice house, good friends and so on.  At the first Thanksgiving they were celebrating having lived!  Half of the original pilgrims died in the first year.
• Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, proclaimed in 1863 that Thanksgiving would be on the last Thursday of November every year.  This year will be #148th.
• Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be our national bird.  I'm kind of glad he didn't, I doubt we would eat our national bird every year!
• The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began in the 1924, this year will be the 87th parade!  The first one didn't have the giant balloons we see today, but live animals instead.
• Last year, an estimated 226,000,000 turkeys were eaten in the USA, and 46,000,000 just on Thanksgiving.
• Football has been a traditional part of Thanksgiving since 1934.
• An adult turkey has about 3,500 feathers.
• Wild turkeys can run as fast as 25 miles per hour. (much easier to 'catch' one at Stop n Shop, those don't move quite as fast)
• The average American will consume about 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving.
• Ripe, raw cranberries bounce!

Ok~ There you go, enjoy!  (And enjoy your food too!)