Everything You Wondered About Thanksgiving

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I am not a fan of holidays, for many personal and painful reasons. This one is particularly difficult.

However, I can be thankful for many things. I live in a country that encourages free speech; I have a roof over my head and a bag of Peanut M&M’s. A new episode of Top Chef is on tonight, and the final dance of Brooke Burke and Derek Hough brought sobs to my throat last night. I’m thankful my grandson and my children are healthy and happy, and I’m thankful Obama is the President-Elect.  I’m thankful for teh interwebz and the fabulous people I’ve met.

For a great article about alternatives to Thanksgiving, check out this blog post. Not to mention this story. Yes, I wrote it, but the woman involved is someone I have come to admire very much. She didn’t wallow, she picked herself up and did something. I can only hope to aspire to so much.

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And now, on to the facts you were probably wondering about:
* According to an upcoming abstract, the typical American consumed 13.4 pounds of turkey in 2004, most of it at Thanksgiving.

* The cost per pound of a frozen turkey in 2005 was $1.07.

* There are 28 places in the US named “Plymouth.”

* 664 MILLION pounds is the forecast of cranberry production, the leader in production being Wisconsin.

* A three ounce portion of white meat, roasted turkey contains 119 calories, 73mg cholesterol, and 1 gm of fat.

* The same portion of dark meat has 137 calories, 95mg cholesterol, and 3.6 gm of fat.

* A 1/2 cup serving of mashed taters (made with whole milk and butter) has 119 calores and 4.4 gm of fat.

* A slice of pumpkin pie can have 316 calories and 14 gm of fat.

* Only 52 people out of the 104 passengers that landed at Plymouth Rock from the Mayflower survived the first year.

* President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863, during the Civil War.

“An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.” — Irv Kupcinet

“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.” — Edward Sandford Martin

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All y’all have a nice turkey day.

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