10 Great Fun Facts about Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving! A great day to get together and eat, drink, be merry, and give thanks, of course. Thanksgiving has gone through an evolution to become what it is today. Here are some fun facts to chuckle at while you munch on your meal.

1. Birth of the TV Dinner

Don’t know if it was extra turkey leftovers that came up with this great idea, but in 1953, someone at Swanson came up with a brilliant plan: Why not slice up the meat and repackage it with some trimmings on the side? The rest is history! The TV Dinner was born.

2. The Making of a National Holiday

When Abe Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, it was thanks to the tireless efforts of a magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote several letters to encourage this holiday. When she wasn’t writing letters to get our Thanksgiving holiday, she also wrote the little tune “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” It only took about 200 years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday!

3. Turkey as the National Bird?

Ben Franklin, the brains behind several inventions, wanted the turkey to be our national bird instead of the eagle. He apparently felt the eagle wasn’t as honorable a bird as the turkey.

4. Turkey Consumption

91% of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving and consume 46 million turkeys each Thanksgiving. That’s a lot of turkey.

5. No Forks Allowed

Forks weren’t invented yet, and so the first Thanksgiving was eaten with spoons and knives. Eventually, forks were introduced about 10 years later, but not without some resistance.

6. Turkey Consumption in California

Californians consume the most turkey in the U.S. on Thanksgiving Day!

7. The First Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims’ first-ever Thanksgiving took place over three days in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Now that’s marathon eating!

8. Green Bean Casserole Galore

Going green: More than 40 million green bean casseroles are served on Thanksgiving.

9. Biggest Drinking Night

Thanksgiving is the biggest drinking night of the year, more than New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day.

1o. Presidential Turkey Pardon

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 pardon ceremony started with President Truman in 1947. President Obama pardoned a 45-pound turkey named Courage, who flew to Disneyland and served as Grand Marshal of the park’s Thanksgiving Day parade!

First Meal in Space

And one more fun fact we wanted to add to bringing our tally to…

11.  Yum!! Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s first meal in space after walking on the moon was foil packets with roasted turkey. I wonder if they washed it down with Tang?