10 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and there are so many things to look forward to when Thanksgiving is upon us, like visiting with your family that you only get to see once a year or eating your favorite dishes cooked by your mom or granny. I know one of my favorite dishes is my mom's homemade mac n cheese—it's so creamy, gooey, cheesy, and delicious. Now, let's see some fun facts about Thanksgiving and different traditions.

1. Naming the Turkey

One of the bizarre things that families like to do when they eat during Thanksgiving is to name their meat. When the turkey or the ham is placed on the table, everybody goes around the table and says a name that they think their turkey/ham should be called. The family member who is chosen to have said the most creative or unique name gets the honor of naming the turkey/ham. Personally, I think this is pretty hilarious. This Thanksgiving, I might bring this idea up while everybody is gathered around the kitchen table. We'll see what my family thinks about this!

2. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

One fact about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was that they used to use real animals from the Central Park Zoo instead of the floats they use today.

3. The First Thanksgiving

The famous Pilgrim celebration at Plymouth Colony Massachusetts in 1621 is traditionally regarded as the first American Thanksgiving. However, there are actually 12 claims to where the “first” Thanksgiving took place: two in Texas, two in Florida, one in Maine, two in Virginia, and five in Massachusetts.

4. The Date of Thanksgiving was once changed to try and boost the economy.

President Roosevelt decided to change the traditional date of Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the second to last Thursday in November in 1939, 1940, and 1941, in order to extend the Christmas shopping season by a week. Only half of the states went along with this idea, and then the date was changed back to the traditional date because nobody followed along.

5. Presidential Pardon of a Turkey

Each year, the president of the U.S. pardons a turkey and spares it from being eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. The first turkey pardoning ceremony started with President Truman in 1947. President Obama pardoned a 45-pound turkey named Courage, who has flown to Disneyland and served as Grand Marshal of the park's Thanksgiving Day parade!

6. Mary Had a Little Lamb influenced Thanksgiving!

The writer of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," Sarah Josepha Hale, is thought to be the person who persuaded Abraham Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

7. Person vs. Turkey

California is known as the a state that consumes the most turkey per person each Thanksgiving. This is very impressive. I wonder how many turkeys they eat while sitting down at the Thanksgiving dinner table—it must be a lot.

8. Turkey Heart Attack

Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.

9. Why the Name "Turkey?"

Why is it called a turkey? Back in the day, the Europeans took a liking to the guinea fowls imported to the continent. Since the birds were imported by Turkish merchants, the English called them turkeys. Later, when the Spaniards came to America, they found a bird that tasted like those guinea fowls. When they were sent to Europe, the English called these birds "turkey," as well.

10. Black Friday

There is nothing better than getting a good nap after two plates of the best homemade food ever made. But what makes it better is waking up and getting to go shopping at the crack of dawn for the best sales ever created. I can't wait to see what sales are going to be going on this year. My favorite store to go to on Black Friday is Target, as they have the best deals.