Fot traditionalists, there is a classic New England Thanksgiving dinner featuring roasted turkey with pan gravy and all the trimmings, including an old-fashioned oyster stuffing,, cranberry relish, and buttery mashed potatoes. A contemporary California-style holiday menu showcases a butterflied turkey and light, seasonal Mediterranean-inspired accompaniments, while an elegant southern buffet offers a glorious glazed ham, spooned bread, and collard greens.

Because Thanksgiving entertaining often extends beyond the holiday meal, this book includes menus for a casual Day-After Lunch, with turkey sandwiches and snacks, and a homey weekend breakfast, with French toast, smoothies, and an irresistible Pumpkin Bread.

In addition to the nearly fifty recipes, there are step-by-step instructions for decorating your home, setting an attractive table, and making a variety of festive drinks -- all lavishly illustrated with color photographs. Detailed work plans accompany each menu, and helpful reference sections provide guidelines on tableware and glassware, setting up a buffet, pairing food and wine, and more. You'll find everything you need to know to host a memorable Thanksgiving that both you and your guests will enjoy.

Thanksgiving (Williams-Sonoma) (Hardcover)

Amazon.com
Williams-Sonoma, purveyor of choice gourmet products and kitchenware, has also created a collection of succinct yet comprehensive cookbooks. Part of the series, Thanksgiving offers 40 recipes that reflect the company's signature good taste. From traditional and "new" holiday starters like Butternut Squash Soup and Mixed Greens with Bacon-Wrapped Figs to desserts including Creamy Pumpkin Pie and Ginger-Pear Torte, the book offers delicious options for a hearty, homemade feast. Main-course birds, dressings, breads, and other accompaniments are represented with the likes of classic roast turkey and Hickory-Smoked Roast Turkey with Horseradish-Apple Sauce; Cornbread Dressing with Oysters and Ham; and Cranberry Sauce with Cider and Vinegar, while a chapter entirely devoted to potatoes provides exemplary "mashed" formulas as well as Candied Yams and a knockout Two-Potato Gratin with Cheese.

Accompanied by color photos that show the dishes in all their glory, the recipes are completely doable, and will appeal to a wide range of cooks. Throughout, sidebars (like "Biscuit Savvy") offer useful information on techniques and ingredients; a glossary and basics section are also helpful. Though small in size, the book provides an inclusive store of superior recipes and instruction. --Arthur Boehm

Book Description
No other holiday captures the spirit of home cooking the way Thanksgiving does. From the perfect roast turkey with wild rice and chestnut stuffing to a rich, old-fashioned pumpkin pie, good food shared with family and friends is what makes this day so special.

Williams-Sonoma Collection Thanksgiving offers easy-to-follow recipes you will want to include in your own holiday menu year after year. In these pages, you'll find inspiring first courses and a tempting variety of side dishes and desserts as well as some new ideas for the main course. This vividly photographed, full-color recipe collection will become an essential addition to your kitchen bookshelf.

"Whether it's your first time preparing a Thanksgiving meal or your twentieth, I hope these recipes make your feast enjoyable."

About the Author
Michael McLaughlin was the author or coauthor of more than 25 books during his long career, including The Southwestern Grill, Great Books for Cooks, the widely acclaimed Silver Palate Cookbook, and Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Grilling. He was also a regular contributor to such publications as Bon Appétit and Food & Wine and worked as a book-buying consultant, recipe developer, and product spokesman for a variety of clients. McLaughlin died in 2002.

Classic Crafts and Recipes for the Holidays : Christmas with Martha Stewart Living (Paperback)

Book Description
If the words “classic Christmas” make images of Christmas cactus, fruitcake, and roast turkey dance in your head, then Classic Crafts and Recipes for the Holidays will make all of your yuletide dreams come true.

Arranged in ten chapters with such names as “Cranberries,” “Nuts,” “Citrus,” “Leaves,” and “Pinecones,” this festive compendium of holiday ideas and recipes is certain to show you how to make every Christmas one to remember. In “Winter Berries,” berries are used to make wreaths, garlands, and centerpieces. In its own chapter, fruitcake has been reinterpreted so it will never run the risk of being left uneaten. “Leaves” shows how to make keepsake gifts out of embossed leaves and cards, and throughout the book there are clever packaging and wrapping ideas to suit every taste and budget.

From now on, when you think of a classic Christmas, you’ll think of Classic Crafts and Recipes for the Holidays.

Review: A Very Beautiful Book
The photographs in this book are absolutely stunning. You could set it on your coffee table for guests to look through, and even if they don't know a Meyer lemon from a tangelo, they'll take great pleasure in looking through this book (they'll learn something, too). Everything is lovingly laid out, photographed and eloquently described. Buy the hardcover edition, because you'll want to keep it for a long time.

Review: A great Holiday Treasure - and gift
Martha's Holiday book this really touched my heart. My mom has always grown Amaryllis and Christmas Cactus, chapters 4 & 5 really were a delightful surprise. I now know the Christmas Cactus the I have is called "White Christmas". When I told my mom about the charts, she was so interested in the book (she lives in Ohio and we live in Fl.) that I am immediately sending her one for Christmas. My son is a personal chef - so we all love to cook and I love to decorate. The pictures are great as usual, but I think I like the charts about the topic in each chapter. They are beautiful and informative. It was great to see the different types of pine cones and citrus. The best part is that even if you don't use these ideas during the holidays - the things you have learned will be useful all year and will be great to share with friends and family.

Some items may have been in Martha Stewart Living - that's great that the special ideas have been put in this holiday book to keep and treasure. (I don't keep every magazine - I will treasure this book).Thanks again to Martha!!!!

Review: Lots of reprints from the magazine
You know this going in, but there arent' as many really neat "new" things as the last books. More biscotti, and a lot of good uses for the endless bags of cranberries in the back of my freezer. I'll start on those for Christmas about November 1, I think. If you like Martha, this is the fifth in the series, but there wasn't anything besides the cranberry stuff that really "grabbed" me. Still, it's great to continue your collection.

Thanksgiving Is for Giving Thanks (Paperback)

Book Description
Sure, Thanksgiving is about pilgrims and history-and turkey, of course!-but most importantly, it's a holiday all about everything that we are thankful for. Cheerful, colorful illustrations accompany the simple text in this celebration of family, friends, and the holiday that brings them all together.

Card catalog description
A child lists all the things for which he is thankful, especially at Thanksgiving.

Review:
What is your child thankful for? Read & find out!
This is one of those special books that involve your children and actually makes them think about what are they thankful. For me Thanksgiving is a holiday where family and friends gather around a table full of wonderful food and this is where this book starts. I like that book includes different families and that it doesn't focus on the 1st Thanksgiving, but about things that each child is thankful for. Parents who love them no matter their actions, for books, cats, dogs, bright sunny days, friends and lollipops!

What a wonderful book that should also get everyone talking about what they are thankful for!

Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving (Paperback)

Book Description
The Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving lasted three whole days. Ann McGovern's simple text introduces children to the struggles of the Pilgrims during their first year at Plymouth Colony and the events leading to the historic occasion we celebrate today.

About the Author
Ann McGovern, the author of more than 55 highly regarded books for children, is excited about the world: the world of history, nature, imagination, and the world of people. Her enthusiasm is the foundation for each word she writes. Her books, which range from fast-paced biographies and fact-filled fun histories to voyages in faraway lands, from playful picture books to retellings of well-known legends and fables, reflect her diverse and many interests.

Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl (Paperback)

Review: Great!!
I am a Kindergarten teacher and this is a great book to read to them. It has excellent pictures. The words can be difficult for Kindergarteners to understand, however, with a little preparation, they will grasp the concept of the book. This book shows the daily lives of a Pilgrim girl. Samuel Eaton's Day compliments this book.

Review: I share it with every teacher
We originally bought this book at Plimoth Village. My children love it. Having photos of people in actual period dress makes it so much easier to understand that they were real people and they lived differently from us. I share our copy of the book with my children's teachers every fall and they all love it and beg for our copy. Tonight, I'm buying them their own!

Review: Sarah Morton's Day Beautiful Photos
Live photos. Great story. The notes in the back on history of the Plimoth Plantation and who Sarah Norton really are cool. Sarah Morton was really a girl who lived in a house with dirt floor in 1627. There's even a glossary in the back.

Review: A child in early American life
This book is a photo-journal portrayal of the life of a girl in early America. Based on a real-life child, the recreation (interpretation) in historic setting makes the reader feel as if he or she is right there, living the life.
It provides a great day-in-the-life picture. I borrowed this book from the library because it is part of the "core curriculum" recommended by E.D. Hirsch.

My 6 year old daughter now has a very concrete basis for comparing her own life to what it might have been at another time. It's inspiring and fun. And a great teaching tool (as mentioned in the previous review.)

Review: My kids never tire of it
My kids (4 and 6) love this book, and want it read to them again and again. It follows a day in the life of young Sarah Morton, a historical character who was a child in early Plymouth Colony. It shows how the people lived then and how their world view differed from ours, yet it entertains at the same time. It can serve as a springboard for discussions on many different topics -- history, responsibility, religion, family, grief, hard work, and no doubt others.

Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy (Paperback)

Card catalog description
Text and photographs follow a six-year-old Pilgrim boy through a busy day during the spring harvest in 1627: doing chores, getting to know his Wampanoag Indian neighbors, and spending time with his family.--This text refers to the School & Library Binding edition.

Review: Wonderful!,
I am continually amazed at how children's books offer detail and insight into daily life that no stout history book can provide.
Writing the same review for the other two in this trilogy. Excellent all!

Review: Values for today from a tale of 1627
This is a wonderful, wonderful book. It will help you teach your children about hard work, perseverance, and family. My children want it read to them again and again.
Young Samuel Eaton (a historical character) is looking forward to his first chance to help his father bring in the crops. He finds the work incredibly hard, and the coarse grain raises bad blisters on his hands. But he perseveres, and at the end of the day when his father tells him "you did a man's work today, Samuel," we feel his pride.

Masterfully written, beautifully photographed, this is a gem in every way.

Review: An excellent book for learning about life as a pilgrim boy!
This book took us back to 1627. We learned all about Samuel Eaton's first day as a man. He told us all about the hard work he had to do in the fields. It was so interesting to read a story that used different words from long ago. The pictures were awesome! They showed us the clothing the pilgrims wore, what their house looked like, and the hard work everybody did. We thought it would be difficult to be a pilgrim boy! We think everyone should read this book because you can learn a lot about how the pilgrims lived. Read this wonderful book!

Three Young Pilgrims (Paperback)

From Publishers Weekly
Using the lives of three real children who traveled on the Mayflower and lived in the Plymouth Colony--Mary, Remember and Bartholomew Allerton--Harness focuses on their experiences and "adventures during one year, between the autumns of 1620 and 1621." She surrounds their story with the larger one of the Pilgrims' struggle for religious freedom and human survival, and invests these figures from the past with a vitality and accessibility that transcend the customary seasonal emphases. This is no sanitized interpretation: the death of the children's mother and her new baby is included, as are the illnesses and deaths of many of the other "Saints"--Pilgrims--and "strangers"--non-religious members of the settlement party. Nor is the historical information here confined to the well-paced, involving text; equally effective are the carefully researched watercolor, gouache and colored pencil paintings--possessed of a suitable rusticity, they expand the narrative with dramatic intensity. A generous inclusion of diagrams, charts and maps abounds with the kind of details and labels capable of mesmerizing youngsters for hours. This notable blend of fact and fiction deserves year-round popularity. Ages 5-10.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Description
When Bartholemew, Remember, and Mary Allerton and their parents first step down from the Mayflower after sixty days at sea, they never dream that life in the New World will be so hard. Many in their Plymouth colony won't make it through the winter, and the colony's first harvest is possible only with the help of two friends, Samoset and Squanto.

Richly detailed paintings show how the pilgrims lived after landing at Plymouth, through the dark winter and into the busy days of spring, summer, and fall. Culminating with the excitement of the original Thanksgiving feast, Three Young Pilgrims makes history come alive.

Card catalog description
Mary, Remember, and Bartholomew are among the pilgrims who survive the harsh early years in America and see New Plymouth grow into a prosperous colony.

About the Author
"The more you read about the Pilgrims, the more you realize how interesting they were," says Cheryl Harness, who began her research by "going to the children's library and gathering up everything I could find." Then she read William Bradford's journals and was gripped by his first-person accounts. Jean Poindexter Colby's book, Plimoth Plantation, Then and Now, gave her the idea to go there.

"Nothing," Cheryl Harness says, "prepares you for how cold and lonely it is by the edge of the sea. I wanted to recreate as best I could how the Pilgrims actually lived, and I felt very fortunate to be able to visit Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum where people try to simulate the experience of living in past times."

Oddly enough, the author-illustrator broke into children's books several years ago with a jacket painting for Patricia Clapp's Pilgrim novel, Constance. She's subsequently illustrated several picture books with contemporary settings, such as Aaron's Shirt by Deborah Gould, published by Bradbury Press.

Cheryl Harness and her two basset hounds and two cats live in a ninety-year-old house in an old neighborhood in Colorado Springs, Colorado.--This text refers to the Hardcover

Review: An Unusual Gem
Cheryl Harness has produced the most unusual gem of the Mayflower story that I have yet run across. The story, by adult standards is choppy in its progression, but is quite charming in its childlike perspective of the harshness that the pilgrims must have faced both on the Mayflower and in the founding of Plymouth including the time of the Thanksgiving feast. The story is sandwiched between pages that give interesting details of the ship, the voyage, and the people and events of the time that would be certain to satisfy the curious reader or listener. The artwork was beautifully illustrated in watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil and has been wonderfully reproduced in colored ink. This is both a wonderful holiday and historical book that should please all ages.
Crazy James

Review: Three Young Pilgrims is the best Thanksgiving book for young.
I discovered Three Young Pilgrims by accident and had to have it. Beautifully told believable story that brings history alive for all ages and illustrations are detailed and excellent. I recommend it for ages 7 to 107!

Review: Wonderful book, especially for those with Mayflower kin!
This is a wonderful and informative book for children and adults that tells the story of the Allerton family as they travel to America. Readers will enjoy both the illustrations -- detailed cut-aways of the ships they sailed in -- and the text which does not mince words about the difficulties of the journey. For anyone who has relatives on the Mayflower, this is a lovely story of how our ancestors first came to this country. It reminds us of how brave they were.

Fun Facts: More about Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual holiday celebrated in much of North America, generally observed as an expression of gratitude, usually to God. The most common view of its origin is that it was to give thanks to God for the bounty of the autumn harvest. In the United States, the holiday is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. In Canada, where the harvest generally ends earlier in the year, the holiday is celebrated on the second Monday in October, which is observed as Columbus Day or protested as Indigenous Peoples Day in the United States.

Contents
1 Traditional celebration
2 The history of Thanksgiving in North America
2.1 Thanksgiving in the United States
2.2 Thanksgiving in Canada
3 Thanksgiving dinner
4 Nicknames
5 Popular culture
6 Source
7 See also
8 External links
8.1 Thanksgiving food links


Traditional celebration
Thanksgiving is traditionally celebrated with a feast shared among friends and family. In both Canada and the United States, it is an important family gathering, and people often travel far distances to be with family members for the celebration. The Thanksgiving holiday is generally a "four-day weekend" in the United States, in which Americans are given the relevant Thursday and Friday off. Thanksgiving is typically celebrated almost entirely at home, unlike the Fourth of July or Christmas, which are associated with a variety of shared public experiences (fireworks, caroling, etc). In Canada, it is a three-day weekend as Thanksgiving is observed on the second Monday of October every year.

Since at least the 1930s, the Christmas shopping season in the U.S. traditionally begins when Thanksgiving ends. In New York City, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held annually every Thanksgiving Day in Midtown Manhattan. The parade features moving stands with specific themes, scenes from Broadway plays, large balloons of cartoon characters and TV personalities, and high school marching bands. It always ends with the image of Santa Claus passing the reviewing stand. Thanksgiving parades also occur in other cities like Plymouth, Houston, Philadelphia (which claims the oldest parade), and Detroit (where it is the only major parade of the year). Due to the earlier date, Santa Claus parades in Canada do not fall on Thanksgiving; the only major parade on that day in Canada is the Oktoberfest parade in Kitchener-Waterloo.

While the biggest day of shopping of the year in the U.S., as measured by customer traffic, is still the Black Friday after Thanksgiving (the biggest by sales volume is either the Saturday before Christmas or December 23), most shops start to stock for and promote the December holidays immediately after Halloween, and sometimes even before.

American football is often a major part of Thanksgiving celebrations in the U.S. and likewise Canadian football in Canada. Professional games are traditionally played on Thanksgiving Day in both countries; until recently in the U.S., these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night. In Canada, these are the only games played on a Monday except for the Labour Day classic, and on the Civic Holiday. The Detroit Lions of the American National Football League have hosted a game every Thanksgiving Day since 1934, with the exception of 1939–44 (due to World War II). The Dallas Cowboys have hosted every Thanksgiving Day since 1966, with the exception of 1975 and 1977 when the then-St. Louis Cardinals hosted. Additionally, many college and high school football games are played over Thanksgiving weekend, often between regional or historic rivals.

U.S. tradition associates the holiday with a meal held in 1621 by the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Some of the details of the American Thanksgiving story are myths that developed in the 1890s and early 1900s as part of the effort to forge a common national identity in the aftermath of the Civil War and in the melting pot of new immigrants.

In Canada, Thanksgiving is a three-day weekend (although in some provinces they choose to observe a four day weekend, Friday–Monday). While the actual Thanksgiving holiday is on a Monday, Canadians might eat their Thanksgiving meal on any day of that three day weekend. This often means celebrating a meal with one group of relatives on one day, and another meal with a different group of relatives on another day.

The history of Thanksgiving in North America
Thanksgiving is closely related to harvest festivals that had long been a traditional holiday in much of Europe. The first North American celebration of these festivals by Europeans was held in Newfoundland by the Frobisher Expedition in 1578. Another such festival occurred on December 4, 1619 when 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembarked in Virginia and gave thanks to God. Prior to this, there was also a Thanksgiving feast celebrated by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (along with friendly Teya Indians) on 23 May 1541 in Texas's Palo Duro Canyon, to celebrate his expedition's discovery of food supplies. Some hold this to be the true first Thanksgiving in North America. Another such event occurred a quarter century later on September 8, 1565 in St. Augustine when Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed he and his men shared a feast with the natives.

Most people recognize the first Thanksgiving as taking place on an unremembered date, sometime in the autumn of 1621, when the Pilgrims held a three-day feast to celebrate the bountiful harvest they reaped following their first winter in North America.

Two American colonists have personal accounts of the 1621 Thanksgiving in Massachusetts:

William Bradford, in Of Plymouth Plantation:

"They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their house and dwelling against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck of meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned by true reports."

Edward Winslow, in Mourt's Relation:
"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

The Pilgrims did not hold Thanksgiving again until 1623, when it followed a drought, prayers for rain and a subsequent rain shower. Irregular Thanksgivings continued after favorable events and days of fasting after unfavorable ones. Gradually an annual Thanksgiving after the harvest developed in the mid-17th century. This did not occur on any set day or necessarily on the same day in different colonies.

Some, including historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., point out that the first time colonists from Europe gave thanks in what would become the United States was on December 4, 1619, in Berkeley, Virginia. That was when the thirty-eight members of The Stanford Company landed there after a three-month voyage in the Margaret. Having been recruited from Gloucestershire to establish a colony in the New World, the men were under orders to give thanks when they arrived, so the first thing they did was to kneel down and do so.

Thanksgiving in the United States
The Pilgrims set apart a day for thanksgiving at Plymouth immediately after their first harvest, in 1621; the Massachusetts Bay Colony for the first time in 1630, and frequently thereafter until about 1680, when it became an annual festival in that colony; and Connecticut as early as 1639 and annually after 1647, except in 1675. The Dutch in New Netherland appointed a day for giving thanks in 1644 and occasionally thereafter.

During the American Revolutionary War the Continental Congress appointed one or more thanksgiving days each year, except in 1777, each time recommending to the executives of the various states the observance of these days in their states.

George Washington, leader of the revolutionary forces in the American Revolutionary War, proclaimed a Thanksgiving in December 1777 as a victory celebration honoring the defeat of the British at Saratoga. The Continental Congress proclaimed annual December Thanksgivings from 1777 to 1783, except in 1782.

George Washington again proclaimed Thanksgivings, now as President, in 1789 and 1795. President John Adams declared Thanksgivings in 1798 and 1799. President Madison, in response to resolutions of Congress, set apart a day for thanksgiving at the close of the War of 1812. Madison declared the holiday twice in 1815; however, none of these was celebrated in autumn.

One was annually appointed by the governor of New York from 1817. In some of the Southern states there was opposition to the observance of such a day on the ground that it was a relic of Puritanic bigotry, but by 1858 proclamations appointing a day of thanksgiving were issued by the governors of 25 states and two Territories.

In the middle of the Civil War, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale, the last of which appeared in the September 1863 issue of Godey's Lady's Book, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863:

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, 3 October 1863."
Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that Thanksgiving would be the next to last Thursday of November rather than the last. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought this would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would aid bringing the country out of the Depression. At the time, it was considered inappropriate to advertise goods for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. However, Roosevelt's declaration was not mandatory; twenty-three states went along with this recommendation, and 22 did not. Other states, like Texas, could not decide and took both weeks as government holidays. Roosevelt persisted in 1940 to celebrate his "Franksgiving," as it was termed. The U.S. Congress in 1941 split the difference and established that the Thanksgiving would occur annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes the next to last. On November 26 that year President Roosevelt signed this bill into U.S. law.

.Beginning in 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented the President of the United States with one live turkey and two dressed turkeys. The live turkey is pardoned and lives out the rest of its days on a peaceful farm.

Since 1970, a group of Native Americans and others have held a National Day of Mourning protest on Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Thanksgiving in Canada
Canadians trace the holiday to a feast held by Martin Frobisher in Newfoundland in 1578.

The first Thanksgiving Day in Canada after Confederation was observed on April 5, 1872 to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness. Official records do not show that Thanksgiving was observed again until the year 1879, when parliament declared Thanksgiving to be an annual national holiday to give thanks and ask for blessings for an abundant harvest. Every year prior to 1957, parliament proclaimed the date annually, resulting in the date being different annually. In 1957, it was proclaimed by the Federal Government of Canada that Thanksgiving for an abundant harvest was to be observed on the second Monday in October for every year thereafter. Thanksgiving in Ontario is a public holiday, which means most stores and business are closed for the day. Only designated tourist areas (e.g. downtown Toronto - Eaton Centre) are allowed to conduct business with shorter business hours.

Thanksgiving dinner

A Thanksgiving dinner in Ontario, featuring turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and beverages.The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, typically in the late afternoon or evening, starring a large roasted turkey. Because turkey is the most common main dish of a Thanksgiving dinner, Thanksgiving is sometimes colloquially called Turkey Day in the USA. The USDA estimated that 269 million turkeys were raised in the country in 2003, about one-sixth of which were destined for a Thanksgiving dinner plate.

Foods other than turkey are sometimes served as the main dish for a Thanksgiving dinner. Goose and duck, foods which were traditional European centerpieces of Christmas dinners before being displaced by turkeys, are now ironically sometimes served in place of the Thanksgiving turkey. On the West Coast of the United States, Dungeness crab is common as an alternate main dish, as crab season starts in early November. Turducken, a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken, is becoming more popular, from its base in Louisiana. Deep-fried turkey is rising in popularity as well, requiring special fryers to hold the large bird, and reportedly leading to fires and bad burns. In Maryland sauerkraut is eaten. Vegetarians or vegans may try tofurkey, a tofu based dish with imitation turkey flavor.

Many other foods are served alongside the main dish — so many that, because of the amount of food, the Thanksgiving meal is sometimes served midday or early afternoon to make time for all the eating, and preparation may begin at the crack of dawn or days before.

Traditional Thanksgiving foods are sometimes specific to the day, and although some of the foods might be seen at any semi-formal meal in the United States, the meal often has something of ritual or traditional quality.

Commonly served dishes include cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatoes, candied yams, green beans and stuffing. For dessert, various pies are served, particularly pumpkin pie, apple pie and pecan pie.

There are also regional differences as to the "stuffing" (or "dressing") traditionally served with the turkey. Southerners generally make theirs from cornbread, while in other parts of the country white bread is the base, to which oysters, apples, chestnuts, sausage or the turkey's giblets may be added. These eating patterns are very similar in Canada.

Other dishes reflect the region or cultural background of those who have come together for the meal. For example, Italian-Americans often have lasagna on the table and Ashkenazi Jews may serve noodle kugel, a sweet pudding.

Nicknames
In certain parts of the USA, the name for Thanksgiving can be shortened or changed. These nicknames include:

Turkey Day (after the traditional Thanksgiving dinner)
T-Day (abbreviation of either "Thanksgiving" or "Turkey")
Macy's Day (exclusive to New York City, a reference to the parade, above, as in "Macy's Day Parade" instead of the proper "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade")
In Canada, the United States' Thanksgiving is sometimes refered to as "Yanksgiving" to distinguish it from the Canadian holiday (yank being a nickname for a resident of the USA).

Popular culture
As the holiday most associated with family gatherings in the U.S., Thanksgiving is often humorously portrayed in movies and television as an occasion for extended family members to bicker with one another.

A number of U.S. television programs have featured Thanksgiving Day specials. Friends, a program that aired on Thursday nights, was especially noted for this. From 1989 to 1997, Mystery Science Theater 3000 aired an all-day "Turkey Day Marathon" on Thanksgiving.

In the U.S., the song "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie is associated with Thanksgiving, as the precipitating events described in the song occurred on Thanksgiving of 1965. "Alice's Restaurant" is played by many radio stations across the country at least once on that day.

Adam Sandler did a song on Saturday Night Live about Thanksgiving called the Thanksgiving Song.