By David Tepera, November 25, 2025

For starters, here’s a quick history lesson on the background of Thanksgiving. The holiday traces back to the year of 1621. The Pilgrims, who were English settlers, held a harvest feast and invited the Wampanoag Indian tribe because they helped the settlers survive the first year.

For years, Thanksgiving was only religious days and didn’t include feasts. George Washington proclaimed the first national day of Thanksgiving in 1789, but it didn’t repeat annually.

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November for the holiday to promote healing and unity. Finally, Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up one week to help create a shopping season during the Great Depression.

Today, Thanksgiving has many traditions. Many families gather for big meals, typically with turkey, pies and all the trimmings. Most large cities have big beautiful parades, with Macy’s being the most famous.

Also, there are many people who donate their time to volunteer, along with charitable giving. When the kids were younger, we frequently participated.

Being from Texas, like them or not, Dallas Cowboys have been hosting Thanksgiving games every year since 1966. My sister Karen lives in Dallas, so one year, I got to hang out with her, husband Tod and many friends. We scalped tickets, tailgated and had a blast.

Just know, the Detroit Lions have played on Thanksgiving day every year since 1934. They are the longest running football tradition. In 2006, NFL added a third game played at night. I’ve never seen that game because I’m usually passed out from a full belly.

Now, what’s your tradition? I know plenty of people who get up early to jog or hit the local gym. For some, this is the last big blowout to stuff yourself before setting new health goals.

Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday season. I think we can all agree, even though it’s festive, it is also stressful. The best way to deal with stress is through exercise. This doesn’t mean on black Friday running through Walmart, grabbing the big screen TV and fighting off the other customers. Okay, that might had been a bad joke, but it was still funny.

Here’s a new tradition for you, after the heavy Thanksgiving meal, take a nice long walk with a family member. It will give you both alone time to catch up and rekindle the relationship.

Listen, what ever is going on in your life, find a way to start a healthy loving Thanksgiving tradition. People need you.