A turkey float makes its way through Times Square during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York in 2007.Reuters
You know turkey. You know football. You know the Pilgrims. But did you know there's more to Thanksgiving than that? While you're waiting for your stomachache to subside so you can eat more pie, read these fun facts from the History Channel, Thought Catalog and WRDW, Augusta, Georgia, aloud to your family. They might just get you out of dish duty.
The Pilgrims' first-ever Thanksgiving took place over three days in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Gov. William Bradford planned the first Thanksgiving dinner.
The Pilgrims ate items like lobster, hickory nuts, cabbage, goat cheese and squash at the first Thanksgiving.
Pilgrims probably didn't wear all black with big buckles. That stereotype was created by illustrators in the 19th century.
A writer named Sarah Josepha Hale is responsible for Thanksgiving's national holiday status. She asked President Abraham Lincoln to declare it an American holiday in October 1863.
Thanksgiving is always the last Thursday in November.
Congress designated Thanksgiving as an official holiday in 1941.
For the past 67 years, the president has pardoned a live turkey every Thanksgiving. The pardoned turkeys get to live on a farm until they die of old age.
Benjamin Franklin campaigned for the turkey, not the bald eagle, to be the national bird.
Nearly 90 percent of Americans eat turkey every Thanksgiving.
About 46 million turkeys are eaten every Thanksgiving.
Turkey doesn't make you tired. It contains no more tryptophan than cheese or chicken.
Most of the turkeys come from Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia and Indiana.
Turkeys can't see well at night, and if they're raised commercially, they can't fly.
Most Thanksgiving turkeys weigh about 15 pounds. They're usually 70 percent-to-30 percent white meat-dark meat.
Every year, the average person in the U.S. eats about 17 pounds of turkey.
The oldest Thanksgiving day parade was organized by Gimbels department story in 1920. The Macy's parade didn't start until four years later.
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving has the most liquor sales of the whole year.
