The week we have all been waiting for since the start of the semester is finally *almost* here. Happy Thanksgiving! As college kids, we have been longing for a few days off from class mixed with a little taste of home and an overwhelming home-cooked meal. This little break seems like a tease, but it’s all we need to power through this semester! To me, Thanksgiving is about being thankful for even the littlest things. This year, I’m particularly thankful for my family, my relationships (even those that didn’t work), my education, my personal growth and so much more. In preschool, I made a centerpiece with the classic hand turkeys and a brown paper bag stuffed with cotton to look like a real turkey and every year my grandma whips it out for this special day. That dorky little craft signifies Thanksgiving to me, as does eating way too much food. Being a total nerd who loves statistics and numbers, here are some that revolve around this holiday season!
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Approximately 46 million turkeys are cooked each year. That’s like one turkey for every 7 people in the U.S.!
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Around 50 million pumpkin pies are made for this day, annually. So, for every 6.5 people, there’s a pumpkin pie cooked.
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The average person consumes around 229 grams of fat during Thanksgiving dinner. That’s only like 3-4 times the recommended daily amount. The holidays are a good excuse!
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The heaviest turkey was record to be 86 pounds. This turkey was about the size of 3 toddlers put together, or the size of a newborn calf.
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On average, the Thanksgiving dinner takes about 16 minutes to eat. That’s a lot of food in not a whole lot of time…considering that the first Thanksgiving feast was spread out over 3 days.
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Now, for some other fun facts about Thanksgiving:
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6. In 1801, 180 years after the first Thanksgiving, president Thomas Jefferson decided to not acknowledge the day as a holiday, as he thought it violated the separation of the church and state. So yeah, Thomas Jefferson canceled Thanksgiving.
7. In 1939, president Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to go all psychic on America as he wanted Thanksgiving to be on the second to last Thursday of November, instead of the last. FDR thought it was going to boost Christmas sales and overall lift the economy. His vision failed, and Congress reverted those changes.
8. The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving happens to be the busiest day for bar sales. I guess all that family time calls for a little personal time the night before, to intoxicatedly meditate.
9. And Black Friday just so happens to be the busiest day of the year for plumbers. All that food’s gotta go somewhere, right?
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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