Today is Sunday, November 20 and there are only 35 days until Christmas.  Yes you read that right, only 35 days!  Don’t wait until Friday, start shopping now!  Today we remember the birthdays of Otto Von Guericke, Peregrine White and Bo Derek.  On this day in 1637 Peter Minuit and the first Swedish immigrants to Delaware set sail from Sweden, in 1789 New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights and in 1967, at 11 AM, the Census Clock at the Department of Commerce ticked past 200 million.  In Mexico today is Revolution Day, world-wide it is Rights of the Child Day and in the US it is National Peanut Butter Fudge Day and National Absurdity Day (I thought that was on the 8th).

As you know, Thanksgiving is this Thursday, so in keeping with my tradition, I am offering some information on the holiday.  I try not to duplicate, from year to year, but if you find that I have, just skip over the repeat information.  Thanksgiving was originally celebrated as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest.  Although it has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well.

Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost all religions after harvests.  The Thanksgiving holiday’s history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation.  In English tradition, days of thanksgiving and special thanksgiving religious services became important during the English Reformation in the reign of Henry VIII and in reaction to the large number of religious holidays on the Catholic calendar.  Before 1536 there were 95 church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, where people were required to attend church and forego work.  The 1536 reforms reduced the number of church holidays to 27.  Puritans wished to completely eliminate all church holidays.  They were to be replaced by specially called Days of Thanksgiving.

In the US, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is commonly traced to a sparsely documented 1621 celebration in Plymouth.  The Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. Pilgrims and Puritans emigrating from England carried the tradition of Days of Thanksgiving with them to New England.  Since then the holiday has become more secular and involves overeating, wearing loose pants, watching football and sleeping through the game.  That noise you just heard was the holiday book slamming shut.

Moving on, I find myself despairing more and more.  In the past I have commented on the poor use of language and the even poorer pronunciation of words.  I think the whole thing has reached a point where we should all become concerned.  I saw a car dealership commercial the other evening and in it they claimed that their deals were huge.  The problem is that they showed a graphic stating that the deals were “Yuuuuge!”  Have things really gotten so bad that no one noticed that before it went on the air?  And people got paid for that!  I always thought that weather people were the only ones who could be wrong with no consequence.

While we are on the subject of commercials, there are a few others I want to mention.  I know, I go on about commercials a lot.  There are two reasons for that.  One is because I find myself watching a lot of TV.  The other is because they are so ridiculous that they need to be talked about.  One that gets me is where people have made grievous mistakes on their job.  Their excuse is that they were eating a candy bar.   This commercial is ridiculous on several levels.  One is that eating is an excuse for doing your job poorly.  Another is that, at no time did anyone notice the mistakes and correct the situation.  What makes it worse is that they are using one of my favorite candy bars as an excuse for poor performance.  I suppose I take these things more seriously than I should, but ridiculous is ridiculous and a poor attempt at humor is no excuse.  Another commercial that I have never been able to figure out is the one where a couple ends up in two bathtubs.  First of all, do I have to buy the bathtubs before I get the drug or does the first prescription include the tubs?  Second, and frankly more importantly, is if you are in two separate bath tubs why do you need the product?  In a situation like that using the pill is a waste of time.

The final one that bothers me is where the protagonist is animated.  Not a moving body part, but a blob of mucus that walks around interacting with humans.  In a recent episode, it is referred to as Booger Man.  I also heard a commercial for a home alarm system recently.  A guy was called by the alarm company to say that there was a break in at his home.  He told them to notify the police.  He said, “Should I go home?  Nah, the alarm scared the snot out of him.”  Really?  Scared the snot out of him?  Is it just me?  Do these commercials really entertain people and cause them to go out and buy these products?  If so then I may have a bridge that they might be interested in.

One other thing I have been thinking about recently is what to have done with me when I die.  Because I am somewhat claustrophobic, I am not sure about being in a coffin.  Cremation has always been out because I have a fear of fire.  I started giving that second thought recently when I was looking at myself in the mirror.  I began to realize that cremation would be about the only way for me to have a smokin’ hot body.  Just a random thought.

This week our fact tells us that you can walk from Boston to New York City in fewer than a million steps.  Of course you can, it’s all down hill.  More importantly you can fly there in a couple hours and be nowhere near as exhausted.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!