The Thanksgiving Starter Pack: 9 Things To Expect in the Holidays
It’s that crazy time of the year again when everyone has a chance to take a break from all the rush and go home to relax and eat good food with family and friends – and that’s what you call Thanksgiving. For non-Americans who just don’t understand how the United States stops every Thanksgiving, it’s time to make things understandable for everyone about what happens during this day and how it affects all Americans. For you Thanksgiving beginners who want to celebrate in the USA or wherever you are, leave your worries behind and you’ll find this day easy to love and hate with this Thanksgiving starter pack checklist.
1. Turkey
Let’s get straight to the point. Thanksgiving is all about filling your bellies with hearty homemade meals and a huge fowl on the center of the dinner table. Why should it be a turkey and not a chicken, a pigeon, nor a duck? History says (although unsure), a letter written by pilgrim Edward Winslow mentions a turkey hunting trip before the meal. Furthermore, wild turkeys were already common through all of North America so it wasn’t new for its people to hunt and eat turkey.
The list of reasons doesn’t stop there. Another reason why turkey is essential for Thanksgiving (and Christmas) is its size huge enough to feed a crowd and its affordable price. We guess it’s better to dig in the turkey-Thanksgiving relations and the turkey itself at the dinner table.
2. Black Friday
Outside the USA, nothing much has been said about Thanksgiving and that goes too for Black Friday. But thanks to the internet, the world can easily see what happens during this day especially if it’s something crazy share-worthy. So what does the world see and think about Black Friday? Well, besides stores attracting crowds with their great deals, Black Friday is famous for its camping shoppers, stampedes, riots, complaints, and a whole day of tough work for the staff.
Crazy prices. Crazy customers. Crazy day.
3. Family
Who’s gonna cook that scrumptious feast without the “family”? Kidding aside, the family, besides the food on the dinner table, completes the typical setting of a Thanksgiving scene. And you just don’t have a family right in front of you, but individuals with different personalities, interests, and beliefs. So get ready to arm yourself with your answers when the table gets heated up with some sort of a debate regarding politics, your mom’s cooking, or worse – your love life.
4. Annoying Questions
Related to number three, once everyone’s complete for Thanksgiving, the battle starts with probably the same annoying and rude questions you already heard last year. Brace yourselves with a couple of questions such as, “Why are you not eating meat?”, “Did you gain weight?”, and “When are you getting married.”
You might be rolling your eyes already but remember most of these questions are thrown at you without the intention of hurting your feelings. So stay calm and try to slowly get away with some jokes or sarcasm.
5. Football
After the dinner, the conversations and such, it’s a ritual to sit down and turn on the television to watch football. This concept dates back to 1876 (after the game was invented) when college football teams at Yale and Princeton, followed by the University of Michigan and others, began the annual tradition of playing Thanksgiving games as most people are off work during these days.
Fast forward to the present, watching football continues to be a tradition up to television sets where families watch NFL games often hosted by the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys.
6. A swollen and aching stomach
Unless you’re strict on your diet, expect to have a blown up belly after the feast.
7. Leftovers
Prepare to be filled with more cranberry sauce and turkey in a form of sandwich in the following days after Thanksgiving. If you want to be more creative, you can make turkey soup, fried turkey patties, turkey salad, and more which leads to a whole week of number 6.
8. Thanksgiving Day Parades
If you’re in New York City on Thanksgiving, you won’t get away with Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Expect to see famous singers, bands, movie stars, and even cartoon characters perform for three hours together with humongous floats and balloons that’ll be marched down the street. There are also other parades such as the 6abc Dunkin Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade that takes place in Philadelphia, McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago, America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and the H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade in Houston.
9. Giving Thanks
Not everyone prays on the dinner table, but if you encounter one or thought about the main reason why people celebrate Thanksgiving. Just pause for a moment and give thanks for the food and the good things (and the bad, if you consider them blessings) that happened to you, to your family, and to your friends this year.
Pass the gravy please!
