Thanksgiving is upon us once again so we thought we prep you with some fun facts that you can take to your holiday gathering this year.  Omitted from the list, because it felt more like a Halloween fact than one for Thanksgiving, is that out of the 8,000 people that participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – 1,000 of them are clowns!  YIKES.  Here are some facts that aren’t as scary…

1. It was Abraham Lincoln who, back in 1863, proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday.  It was partly to celebrate victories in the then-raging Civil War and partly to spotlight our advantages and privileges of living in a democracy.  Decades later, Roosevelt and Congress acted to establish Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November, in part to lengthen the Christmas shopping season
2. There are 4 towns in the US that are named Turkey, Turkey Creek AZ, Turkey, TX, Turkey Creek LA and Turkey NC
3. 3000-4,500 calories are consumed on average on Thanksgiving – that totals a whopping 8.1 billion calories across the nation!
4. 9% of Americans eat their Thanksgiving meal in a restaurant
5. Thankful Americans differ on their favorite part of the meal however –  39% say it’s the turkey, 23% say stuffing, 12% the pumpkin pie, 9% go for the mashed potatoes, 6% sweet potatoes and 3% love the cranberry sauce
6. 46 million turkeys aren’t as thankful each year.  This year, we’ll spend $552 million dollars on turkeys
7. 635 of us drink wine with our meal, while 19% prefer beer and 10% throw back other spirits
8. The weekend kicks off the holiday shopping period and, on average, we each spend over $313 during this 5-day period
9. Over 165 million people typically hit the stores.  57% are buying clothing or accessories and 34% are buying toys
10. Last year we spent $3.7 billion online – that was an increase of 28% over 2017.  No doubt that trend will continue to shoot upward this year
11. Football became a staple of the holiday back in 1876 when Yale and Princeton took to the field
12. It was in 1920 when the NFL started to air games each Thanksgiving.  The Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions are the only team to have played every year since 1966
13. In 1924 the Macy’s Parade debuted.  This 2.65 miles long trek down the center of manhattan attracts 3.5 million spectators and over 50 million who join in on TV and other devices
14. This year, over 54.3 million of us will travel this Thanksgiving.  89.4% will wander on land, while 7.8% will take to the skies
15. Not surprisingly, 88% of people say that they are the most thankful, 77% says it’s their health, 72% say it’s personal freedom, and only 32% say that wealth is their top choice.