Did you know the food served at the very first Thanksgiving didn’t consist of turkey, collard greens, candied yams or macaroni and cheese? According to historical records, the Pilgrims and Native Americans ate deer, lobster, corn, eel and stuffing made of shelled chestnuts. The meal lasted for three days. Talk about a feast!

This Thanksgiving provides an opportunity not only to bond with your family over the dinner table, but to share interesting information about the holiday. The following six facts about Thanksgiving are both educational and fun!

• Who celebrated the first Thanksgiving? Historians believe fifty Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians celebrated the first Thanksgiving. They also say only five women were present. Hopefully, they didn’t have to do all the cooking!

• When did Thanksgiving become a national holiday? Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday on October 3, 1863. Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” convinced Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday after writing letters to the president for seventeen years.

• When was the first Thanksgiving held? The first Thanksgiving celebration didn’t take place in November at all. Some historians suggest it was held in mid-October, similar to the present-day Canadian Thanksgiving. President Lincoln set the current November date to coincide with the Pilgrims’ landing on Plymouth Rock.

• Do all turkeys make a “gobble” sound? Only male turkeys make the well-known “gobble, gobble” sound that has come to be associated with Thanksgiving. Female turkeys make other noises, such as purring and cackling.

• How many turkeys are cooked on Thanksgiving? Millions of families gather around the dinner table to celebrate Thanksgiving, so it’s no surprise that about 46 million turkeys are cooked each year.

• Who was the first president to pardon a turkey? President George H. W. Bush pardoned the first turkey in 1989. A pardon assures that the turkey will not wind up on someone’s dinner plate. President Bush issued the pardon after noticing the 50-pound bird looked a little nervous at his official Thanksgiving proclamation. Since that time, every president has upheld the tradition.