Ahhh…Thanksgiving – a time to gather with our families and be thankful for all of the wonderful blessings in our lives; a day to eat until you are stuffed and then relax and watch a little football, or even grab the family and start your own game.  Plus, who doesn’t love the official start of the holiday shopping and blockbuster movie season?  (Don’t forget that this year many retailers have announced that they will open their doors at midnight so shoppers can get an extra early start on the incredible bargains that await them!)

In honor of Thanksgiving, we thought it would be fun to post a little Turkey Day Trivia.

Did you know?

• Abraham Lincoln issued a ‘Thanksgiving Proclamation’ on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving.
• The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade tradition began in the 1920′s.
• Congress passed a law on December 26, 1941, ensuring that all Americans would celebrate a unified Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
• Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented a live turkey and two dressed turkeys to the President. The President does not eat the live turkey. He “pardons” it and allows it to live out its days on a historical farm.
• In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations.
• The average person consumes over 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day.
• According to the Guinness book of world records, the world’s biggest pumpkin pie was baked in September of 2010 and weighed in at 3,699 pounds.
• The heaviest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds, about the size of a large dog.
• Turkeys can have heart attacks. The United States Air Force was doing test runs and breaking the sound barrier. Nearby turkeys dropped dead with heart attacks.
• The American tradition of college football on Thanksgiving is almost as old as the sport itself. The newly formed American Intercollegiate Football Association held its first championship game on Thanksgiving Day in 1876. By the 1890s, more than 5,000 club, college and high school football games were taking place on Thanksgiving, and championship match-ups between schools like Princeton and Yale could draw up to 40,000 fans.
• The first national Thanksgiving Day NFL football broadcast occurred over NBC Radio in 1934. (Detroit Lions vs. Chicago Bears. Da Bearz won 19-16.) The first Thanksgiving Day football game shown on TV was in 1956.
• The Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, and Baltimore Ravens have never played on Thanksgiving Day.
• The Dolphins and Vikings have the highest winning percentage of any team on Thanksgiving. They are both 5-1 all-time.
• Other than the Cowboys, who have done it three times, the Dolphins are the only other team to win a Thanksgiving Day game, and the Super Bowl in the same season. Miami did it in the 1973 season when it beat Dallas 14-7 on Thanksgiving, and then won Super Bowl VIII over the Vikings 24-7.
• Today offers some great college and NFL football.  The defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers take on the Detroit Lions at 12:30p.m. EST on Fox; the Miami Dolphins battle the Dallas Cowboys at 4:15p.m. EST on CBS, and be sure to catch Texas vs. Texas A&M at 7p.m. EST on ESPN!

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the Bright House Networks family!

What are your Thanksgiving Day plans?  Are you planning to hit the Thanksgiving Day sales at midnight tonight?