Thanksgiving Trivia

Thanksgiving is right around the corner! Whether you are spending it with family or friends, there may come a time when you need to divert the conversation to a happier topic (we all know how family can get). Try memorizing some of these Thanksgiving tidbits which are sure to take the attention off that crazy aunt. Or, if you are meeting your girlfriend’s family for the first time, imagine how impressed her Grandma will be with all of this fun useless trivia! Then again, if you are possibly like me with a teenager at home that thinks you are weird anyways, tell them one of these fun facts when they start mumbling about family togetherness. Wait! Try one of these on the husband when he starts in about football statistics during a big play! Everyone is sure to love something!

• Can you imagine "Jingle Bells" as a Thanksgiving song? When James Pierpoint wrote the song, he was inspired by sleigh races quite common this time of year and it was titled, "One Horse Open Sleigh". People loved the song and associated it with Christmas, officially changing the title in 1859.
• If you are a bartender, the night before Thanksgiving will be one of your best nights in sales. Which makes me wonder. Is it people coming in town getting together or that they are escaping family? If Grandpa offers to do a grocery run on Wednesday night, set a time limit.
• Black Friday isn't just a busy time for retail, it is the busiest time for Plumbers! They have 21% higher calls than any other weekend thanks to kitchen drains, garbage disposals, toilet issues. This can be caused by all the extra usage your plumbing and appliances are going through due to the big meal or all the extra family in town.
• We can all thank the Swanson employee that overestimated the demand for Turkey in 1953. With all of the leftovers, they took inspiration from the airlines and used 5,000 aluminum trays to pack all the extra food in to your own personal TV dinner.
• George Washington was the first president to declare Thanksgiving, but the presidents had to do this EVERY year. President Jefferson was against Thanksgiving and thought it was a useless holiday and refused. Abraham Lincoln finally officially declared Thanksgiving to be held on the final Thursday of November every year.
• President Roosevelt changed it to the 3rd Thursday in November hoping to inspire additional Christmas shopping to spur the economy during the depression. This didn't work out for long and Congress made Thanksgiving an official National holiday in 1941 - on the 4th Thursday.
• What does "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and Thanksgiving have in common? The poem was written by Sarah Josepha Hale and she is the one that sent letter after letter to President Lincoln campaigning for Thanksgiving to be a National Holiday.
• According to the National Turkey Federation, 88% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving. The average weight? 15 pounds.
• Remember when your kids were little and you would ask, "What sound does a turkey make?" and they would say, "Gobble, Gobble&" Well, only male turkeys make that sound, females sound more like a clacking. You do have to admit that a little kid saying gobble is so much cuter than cackle though.
• We are so used to hearing about a turkey being pardoned that we may not realize that it wasn't always the case. Dating back to the 1940's prior to Thanksgiving, the President is presented with a live turkey from the National Turkey Federation. While some have been thankful for the addition to the meal, some have "spared" the bird. However, the first OFFICIAL pardoning was in 1989 from President George HW Bush who instituted this reprieve as a permanent part of the presentation. Some of these turkeys go on to a relaxing vacation. From 2005 to 2009, the turkeys went to Disney Land and Disney World to be the Grand Marshalls of the Thanksgiving Parades. From 2010 to 2012, they vacationed at Mount Vernon, the estate of George Washington and from 2013 - 2015, they resided at an estate in Virginia.
• Watch out for the flying turkeys! Although domesticated turkeys cannot fly, wild turkeys can fly up to 55mph for short distances and can run up to 20mph!
• If a football game is the normal background sound on your Thanksgiving, you can thank the 1934 Detroit Lions owner for starting this, thanks to a gimmick to try and sell tickets. Although it had been played for centuries on this day, it was the first NFL game broadcast on Thanksgiving and all 26,000 tickets sold two weeks before the game!