Happy Thanksgiving!

From USA Today:

"5 things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving"

As you go around the table and express what you're thankful for this year, the regular suspects — your family, good health, the Red Sox's World Series win — will likely make the list.

Here are 5 Thanksgiving-specific things to be thankful for that you may not have thought of:

1. You aren't eating irradiated turkey for dinner: Just because they're about 200 miles above Earth doesn't mean that the two U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station won't be able to dig in to a traditional Thanksgiving meal today ... except theirs will be an irradiated, thermostabilized and freeze-dried one.

2. The dinner you are eating is a little cheaper this year: Thanksgiving dinner will cost you a little less this year compared to 2012, according to a 34-state survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation. It determined what a 10-person feast with turkey and all the trimmings — including stuffing, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and more — will clock in at.

3. Turkey's tryptophan is not the enemy!: Contrary to what you learned while watching Seinfeld, the turkey you're about to eat today is not the true reason why you're bound to crave a nap after dinner. Yes, there is tryptophan in it, but no, that's not the main culprit behind your desire to snooze.

4. There are 3 states where Black Thursday is banned: No getting up from the dinner table early in Rhode Island, Maine or Massachusetts to do some Thanksgiving Day shopping — thanks to "blue laws" that date back to colonial times.

5. And there are a few Americans who have taken a Black Thursday stand: The owner of a Sears Hometown store in Plymouth, N.H., has rejected the head office's order to open at 7 p.m. tonight, so that her employees can spend the holiday with their families — though she says she has been told she will lose her bonus for the rest of the year as a result.

^ Today is Thanksgiving (it's also Hanukkah - which some people call: Thanksgivukkah.) I just finished eating with my family. While it was a lot of work putting everything together it was well worth it. We tried some new dishes and had some of our traditional ones. I like the list above, but one thing it should say is to not forget the military men and women who are away from home (whether overseas or not.) It's people like them that help us to celebrate the holiday and allows us to be thankful for everything. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/28/newser-thanksgiving-thankful/3775079/