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ThanksgivingHistoryThe first Thanksgiving was a three day long outdoor harvest feast held by the Pilgrims in 1621. Their meals mainly consisted of deer, shellfish and corn. Thanksgiving has been celebrated ever since, but was not made an official holiday until 1863. That was when the president at the time, Abraham Lincoln, issued a proclamation to observe Thanksgiving as a way to express thanks to nature for its blessings. Thanksgiving is now celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year.The TurkeyThese days, Americans still eat corn on Thanksgiving, but the main part of the dinner is the turkey, sometimes simply called “the bird.”There were lots of wild turkeys around when the Pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving, but there’s no evidence that they actually cooked or ate them.An average size turkey can take 5 hours to cook, and the whole family is eagerly waiting for it to be done. 45 million turkeys are consumed by Americans on this day alone, and it’s hands down the largest turkey day in the world.After the TurkeyThanksgiving is a great day for families to come together and eat a big, home-cooked meal. The following day is almost as good, but in a different way. The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. In spite of its sinister name, it’s a fantastic day for consumers. All major retail stores open extra early, often at 4 or 5 am, and they have tons of items on sale throughout the store. The biggest draws are the door buster deals. These are desirable items that are being sold at or below cost. Customers line up for hours outside the stores to get their hands on one of these items, and chaos typically ensues when the doors finally open and everyone rushes in.Black Friday is used to predict how successful the Christmas shopping season will be for the stores, so it’s a very important day for them.If you had the chance to buy any item at half price, what would it be?It is rumored that Benjamin Franklin, a famous scientist and politician, wanted the turkey to be the national bird of the United States. Most Americans would have a hard time picturing what Thanksgiving dinner would look like if that had been the case!As you might know, the majestic bald eagle was chosen instead, and is now on the logo for the United States Postal Service and also part of the Presidential Seal, among other things.Christmas in Las Vegas14-year-old Lea's journalDecember 25th, Las Vegas, Nevada, USAIt’s Christmas Day and I’m in Las Vegas! It’s weird to be spending the holidays away from home, without my grandparents, aunts and uncle, but since there was no snow at home, I don’t really mind.3550431307556On December 21st we flew to Phoenix, AZ. The 23rd we went to IKEA in Phoenix. It was really strange, but really cool to be at an IKEA with palm trees growing in front of it. At IKEA we bought Swedish Christmas soda called Julmust?so we could drink it in the car on Christmas Eve, as we were driving to Las Vegas. We had also brought?ginger thins?from home. On our way here we saw a lot of different cacti, I had no idea a cactus could come in so many shapes and varieties.We’re staying on one of the top floor of?Caesars Palace. From our room we can see the Las Vegas Strip and the Bellagio fountain. Some of the jets in the fountain spray really high. When you watch the show from the street level, it seems to reach even higher and you can hear the music, which is playing through speakers all around the pool.Here in Vegas some of the hotels have different themes, and there are a lot of hotels. One of the hotels looks like a fairy tale castle; another one looks like a pyramid.Today, we had lunch at New York-New York, which is supposed to look like New York City. On the outside it’s built like skyscrapers standing next to each other and in front of them was a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty. On the inside it looks like streets of?NYC. Inside the hotel there’s even a roller coaster, which I went for a ride on. I don’t regret riding it, but it was really scary.I was hoping that even though it wouldn’t feel like real Christmas, I could still get the feel of Christmas Eve by walking the streets, but there were hardly any Christmas decorations visible around town. Sure, when you walked into a hotel there were a few Christmas trees and other decorations, but for the most part business seemed to be going on as usual. Since there was no real Christmas spirit around, we chose to ignore the holiday and act like regular tourists. None of the restaurants we've eaten at seemed to have changed their menu for Christmas, so we didn't get the chance to try typical American Christmas food either.Tomorrow we’re leaving Vegas to see the Hoover Dam, which is in both Nevada and Arizona. Those two states are in different time zones, so the time will be changed by an hour as I cross the dam! After that we’re going to the Grand Canyon. I can't wait; it's going to be so awesome! ................
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