1. The first Thanksgiving took place in 1621 and lasted for 3 days! By the time you factor in leftovers and travel I think we still experience that even today.
2. Here is a sample of the first Thanksgiving menu: turkey, deer, duck, corn, fish, shellfish, squash, beans and nuts....the one that grossed me out the most was eel!! I've got three of these covered on my menu...turkey, squash and corn. Trust me, there will be no eel!
3. Abraham Lincoln was the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving as a holiday in 1863. However, it wasn't made a national holiday until 1941 by Congress. It is nice to know Congress gets some things right :-)
4. Thanksgiving is the busiest travel holiday of the year. Of all the people that travel, 91% travel by car. I have experienced this fact when driving to and from Atlanta...it is awful!
5. Benjamin Franklin wanted the Turkey to be the national bird of the US.
6. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1920. I have watched this as long as I can remember. It brings back great memories
7. 280 million turkeys will be sold for Thanksgiving. That is a lot of Turkey!
8. Stuffing vs. Dressing - Southerners make dressing using cornbread while most everyone else in the country makes stuffing using white bread. All I can say is that it is great to be a Southerner :-)
9. 40 million green bean casseroles will be made in the US on Thanksgiving. My mom spoiled me by making some of the best green beans known to mankind. We never had green bean casserole growing up. I will be making mine like my moms this year so I wont be included in that number. For those of you that do, enjoy those crispy onions for me...they are the best part :-)
10. Last but not least, of the amount of cranberries consumed throughout the year by Americans, 20% of them are eaten at Thanksgiving. I don't know about you, but I can't have Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce. It is a must! This year I am making a Turkey breast in the crock pot and I love the recipe because it includes cranberries. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Hope you enjoyed the fun facts! In closing I wanted to share a Thanksgiving memory. After all, Thanksgiving doesn't mean a thing without the memories. My grandpa...lovingly known as Peepaw..loved any holiday that included his family and some good food. I think my favorite part of Thanksgiving was late in the day after the meal had been eaten and the football games watched, Peepaw would declare that it was time for leftovers. He had a flare for some fun leftovers. His culinary creation was the Thanksgiving sandwich. This was long before the Food Network made it popular. This was a Peepaw original.
I can remember watching him take some bread and pile on turkey and dressing and gravy and cranberry sauce and every other leftover he could find. Then he would take a bite and get that grin that only my Peepaw could have. I can remember one Thanksgiving toward the end of his life on this earth when I got the privilege to make "the sandwich." Oddly enough it's pretty good. But more than anything I was just happy to make my Peepaw happy. My Peepaw has been rejoicing at Jesus' feet for the past 9 years. Not a holiday goes by that I don't miss him. Even now, a tear slides down my face just thinking about him. But, I know I will get to see that grin again when we gather around the throne of our Savior. Memories like these only make life here and the hope of eternity that much sweeter.
So, that is all for now. Thanks for coming along the fun fact train that took a detour down memory lane. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with much love and some good food too! Love to you all from our little corner of the world!
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