Ways Thanksgiving Has Changed From The First Thanksgiving

The obvious thing to start this list with is COVID-19, but that's not what this is about. What has become tradition, that didn't start with the early settlers?

Every year on the fourth Thursday of the month. Most Americans have a 4 day weekend in the fourth week of the month of November. That's when we celebrate Thanksgiving. It's not nearly the same as it was in history.

When the Pilgrims arrived and met the Native people in what became America, we have these romantic pictures of the two peoples sharing food and drink and good times, teaching each other the value of being thankful for what you have. It wasn't all like that. There were some things that did happen. According to Historic Mysteries, the Pilgrims were learning agriculture and there was a lot of sharing. All given to the Pilgrims by the Native Americans.

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Times have changed, according to Voices Of America here are some things the Pilgrims and Native Americans never dealt with that we have.

• People start getting in the Christmas mindset the day after Thanksgiving. Pilgrims and Native Americans never dealt with a Black Friday sale. This year is a little different, there won't be big sales because of COVID-19, but people start thinking about it.
• Alcohol sales skyrocket and they will again this year. Whether you go somewhere or stay home for Thanksgiving, people are drinking more. It used to be so you could deal with relatives or your football team losing. Now it's just to get through a COVID-19 day with the family.
• Football Games! There are 3 games on Thanksgiving now. Only on Thanksgiving can a 4-year-old get his name on a football board and win $50. I'm not saying I did when I was a kid. (Thanks Uncle Bob for help with the numbers).
• FOOD!!
• Turkey is the traditional Thanksgiving dish, but there are other foods that are parts of the feast, some serve ham (don't know why, we don't see pigs hanging in the window on Thanksgiving).
• Green bean casserole (add mushroom soup to anything, call it a hot dish, we are set Pilgrims did not bring this to the celebration.
• Sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Let's take healthy sweet potatoes and make them so they can give us diabetes and high blood pressure, add a pound of butter and marshmallows, maybe they had sweet potatoes, but not prepared this way.
• Stuffing, betting this was not a featured food. Some people stuff it in the back end of a turkey and then eat it. So you kill the turkey, then to mock it, you stuff flavored bread inside the carcass.
• There's pumpkin, apple, cherry, rhubarb, strawberry, blueberry, etc. PIE, this may have been around and a way to serve some of the berries the Pilgrims were discovering.

If you are a foodie and want to spend quality time on the couch with your pants undone, Thanksgiving is probably one of your favorite holidays to celebrate.