Thanksgiving, what a turkeyful time of the season.

Like every other holiday, this holiday has it’s fair share of traditions. From family to family traditions are a little different, but at the end of the day food is often the center of it all.

In 1621, it was said that the Plymouth colonists had a successful harvest so they celebrated with their neighbors the Wampanoag tribe by having one big feast. At least that’s what most people think happened.

Opposing viewpoints say that the first Thanksgiving wasn’t so wholesome. They contest that John Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts at the time, had declared a day to celebrate the colonial soldiers who had done awful things to many Pequot women, men, and children.

Regardless of its origins, Thanksgiving wasn’t an official holiday until 1863, when former president Abraham Lincoln made it a holiday as a thank you for the victories in the civil war.

Later congress passed legislation making Thanksgiving a national holiday. This year Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, Nov. 25.

Over time, a lot of off-message traditions have become associated with Thanksgiving. For many families Thanksgiving is a day of crowding around the television to enjoy the football game, and later feasting like there’s no tomorrow.

This year, remember to be thankful for your friends, family, and everything else that you might not consider every day.