Thanksgiving

[above: Minnesota around Thanksgiving, usually]

I think that I said everything that I needed to about thankfulness yesterday, so just a few ruminations on the holiday:

1) What, exactly, is the advantage of calling Thanksgiving Turkey Day? I mean, the only possible time I would think that it would be closer to acceptable would be with younger children who can't pronounce Thanksgiving, but isn't the whole point to be thankful for what we have, an association with which Turkey Day kind of strikes out. Also, for kids who, like my younger brother, eat turkey sandwiches every day, the phrase kind of loses its meaning.

2) On a similar topic, I see how turkey-based arts and crafts are the perfect activities for younger children around Thanksgiving (no, I'm not going to be a total crab and say that they should be doing thankfulness-related activities), but at a certain point, isn't it a bit scary to think that the animal that they now love so much is the one whose carbonized carcass they're about to devour?

3) Are there other parts of the U.S. where it's pretty regular to have a snowy Thanksgiving (besides Wisconsin and Alaska)? I'm pretty upset that our snow melted before Thanksgiving, but when I try voicing this frustration to my friends in Texas, they're pretty unreceptive.