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Retrospect
Retrospect
Gratefulness In This Challenging Seasons | Retrospect Ep.165
In this week’s episode we discussed the things that we have to be thankful for over the last year. As usual it is Thanksgiving time here in The States, and there is nothing like surrounding yourself with people you love, over a meal, sharing in life together. All of us here want to say a special thank you to everyone who has been a continued listener of this show, you help make all this possible!
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Keywords
Renaissance Festival, Thanksgiving traditions, family gratitude, job loss, retirement reflection, health appreciation, technology benefits, food delivery, Thanksgiving statistics, turkey consumption, Friendsgiving trend, non-traditional desserts, football tradition, Macy's Parade, travel plans
Ian
Ian, welcome to the retrospect podcast, a show where people come together from different walks of life and discuss a topic from their generation perspective. My name is Ian, and, as always, I'm joined by Stoney,
Stoney
hello
Ian
and Jason,
Jason
hello, everyone.
Ian
I was a stumbled my words there for a second. So how's it been for you guys?
Jason
Well, I mean, it was a good weekend. I I just,
Ian
I wish the weather would make up its mind. I know we always say this every year, but like, I have noticed I'm a little congested because, oh yeah, I'm, like, super hot. Yeah,
Jason
I'm dealing with that myself right now. It's supposedly this week, it's going to be a roller coaster of of temperature changes. So we're going to be, unfortunately, my, I think I'm gonna have to do a nasal flush, oh yeah, to help me in that regard. But no, it was a great weekend. The girlfriend and I bought two tickets to the Louisiana Renaissance Festival. No way, yes. So we might, I was gonna go this weekend. We went out. Yeah, they did, yeah. And, matter of fact, there was a bunch of other people that was supposed to come on this weekend with us, but sold out. Luckily, when I bought the tickets, yeah, because I bought them like early, yeah and, but this weekend was this past weekend. The theme was myths and magic fun. So it's, you know, you go to that. That was the first time she had ever been to that, really, that kind of event. Well,
Ian
just, I've, I've gone a whole bunch over the course of the years, and they've done a lot of renovations. They've really, they've revamped a whole lot. Yes, they've done a lot of publicity this year for it. And it's, it's really cool. So much better. I ran into,
Jason
actually, I was in line waiting to give me something to eat, and there was a guy in front and somehow caught the conversation, but, and I started talking to him, but he said they're from. They were from Orlando, Florida, get out, and just at the last minute, decide to drive to the Renaissance Festival here. Obviously they go to a lot of them. I said, Well, how does this one stand up to some of the others? He goes, it's not as big, yeah. But I like this because there's more actual physical structures that give you the impression of a medieval yeah town that you would see in Europe, yeah, during that time period, he goes a lot of the big Renaissance, there's just a lot of tents, yeah, so it's not the same so, and I have to say, it's been several years since I've been, yeah, um, they've done a lot. They have out there, they've done quite large. They've done what, from a lot bigger than what it was went on, right? They've done a lot in
Ian
just the past two years. They didn't have it in 2020 because the pandemic, 2021 it was back. But like, you know, masks and whole bunch of stuff. And then every year since then, they have, just, like, a lot of that money has been putting into improving it, and it's, it's shown Well, this year has was the biggest year.
Jason
I was like, selling, they're selling out every weekend, so they're obviously making money Exactly.
Ian
So anyways, I love that Festival. It's a lot of fun. There's a lot of cool people out there. And that's actually part I was going to talk some about that in today's episode. Okay, as we get into it.
Jason
But yeah. So, yeah. So it was, it was fun. We had a good time. Austin
Stoney
used to be the best.
Ian
Oh yeah, I've
Stoney
heard Austin, well, there's
Jason
one. There's the big one in East Texas. And the reason I know that because my girlfriend's friend and her boyfriend went to the one in Texas, and they're camping out there.
Stoney
Yeah. So I used to do the one in Austin, and it is absolutely fantastic. That's, I don't know if it still is, because it's probably been, does
Jason
that one have a lot of the actual constructed buildings,
Stoney
the jousting, yeah, every everything that's so
Ian
cool. Yes, I think it's a lot of fun. It's a cool place. But anyway, like I said, we'll talk about that later. Um, do me introduce this episode of you, when you guys want to take it well, I
Jason
mean, we are entering Thanksgiving.
Stoney
Yep, I had a lot to be thankful for coming into this episode and did some fun research, and about an hour before came up here, I received the news that the corporation that I work for has decided to fire me because of the accident, and they decided to do it the week of Thanksgiving, yep, and so I don't know how much I have to be thankful for this, this this week, except for my wife that for our listeners and you guys,
Ian
I still family. I still believe there's a lot to be thanked before, but I don't want to discredit the fact that that is, let's,
Jason
let's think about that. You know. As I said, that we are going into Thanksgiving week, and so what we traditionally have done is to look back on what we are thankful for. You.
And I know we were unfortunately dealing with this, these, this bad news that Stoney received. And I've got my own opinions on that, and I'm just gonna refrain from talking about that, but I was just looking at my own life and what I've been thankful for, and how much change has happened with me. I retired from my former employer after 32 years of work, right? I'm very thankful for I had the ability to retire, yeah, at this point my life where a lot of people cannot, and so I'm very thankful for that. But you know, you we think about things in life that a lot of times we take for granted. And you know, every day I deal sometimes with seeing homeless people, and I don't know what tragedies have befallen their life, that they're where they're at, but you know, I have to say I'm most thankful for my family. I've got a very I'm very close with, with my with my mother and my my stepfather, as many you know, I think I've mentioned my listeners, my real father passed away over 30 some years ago, and I was we were lucky to my mom was able to find someone who's who's been a good husband to her, has been a good step father to me and my sister. And so I'm very thankful for that. I think of close friends that I have, and I value those friendships, and I'm thankful for those people. I'm thankful for good health. I've been very blessed. I thank the good Lord every day that I have, that I've got good health. Think of a home, a roof over your head in the rain. You know, for people who are employed, they have a job. We have food to eat. We have clean water to drink. I don't have any pets, but when I had a pet, I was thankful that had a pet. Yeah,
Ian
I was trying to, I was looking back a little bit. I didn't listen to the full episode, but we do an episode like this, you know, this time each year, and it's, it's interesting to looking back a little bit, how much of this, how much life for me, has changed over the course of you know that just this one year and so it's been,
Jason
yeah, it's so funny, I actually pulled up a website called shutterfly.com Yeah, and things to be thankful for in life and some of the things I've mentioned already, but they list some other things. Here. A good night's sleep. There you go. Financial savings, yeah, weekends for people who work, go forward to the weekends. Fresh fresh air, yeah? Transportation to have a car, clean water. I mentioned that our technology, how technology has made our lives a lot easier,
Ian
right? We've talked about that recently, good and bad.
Jason
You know, art, people that produce beautiful art, right? Teachers that teach the future generation modern healthcare. You know, yeah, think about that music.
And here they mentioned, here, graduations, colors, giving gifts and receiving gifts, and then they have this thing called funny things to be thankful for. What do you think is number one, I don't even, I don't even know indoor plumbing.
Ian
I mean, that's not wrong
Jason
about that indoor plumbing. Yeah, because you know that it's either that or going to an outhouse, right? So how it used to be two here is food delivery services, Wi Fi. I
Ian
would push back on food delivery services, but that's just a me thing. I feel like they're overpriced, and I
Jason
think he's everything's overpriced, I know, but, but even
Ian
more so you buy McDonald's, where you can spend like, three times and get it delivered. I'm like, why? Just go get in naturally,
Jason
missing every crack in the pavement. I have no idea. Happy hours,
Ian
okay, yeah, Netflix,
Jason
waking up seconds before your alarm
Ian
that, I mean, I will say this kind of a nice feeling.
Jason
Uh, fuzzy socks.
Ian
My feet get too hot, but I know people like those, so I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna deodorate
Jason
100% the ability to Google any question. Thank goodness for us, because that helps with our with the podcast, yeah? Toilet paper, Yep, I agree. Duct tape, okay, good. Hair days,
Ian
okay, okay, you had me then you lost me a little
Jason
bit. Your celebrity crush, I
Ian
don't know about that. Okay, now the
Jason
five second rule, okay, bacon, all right. Fortune cookies with a perfectly timed fortune.
Ian
These are oddly specific, yes. Cat
Jason
videos, okay, clothes fresh out of the dryer, okay, yeah,
Ian
I'll agree. Inside
Jason
Jokes, it's fun. GPS, yeah, auto save,
Ian
hey,
Jason
I save my butt many times,
Ian
especially for editing. In the editing world, having auto save has been a lifesaver for me. Spell check, yeah, again, same chapstick, okay,
Jason
getting everyone to smile in the family photo at the same time. Okay, good feeling. And then they, I
Ian
thought, I thought it was gonna say, like the like a perfectly, like a perfectly timed joke that everyone gets, unless that's a good feeling too. They have things,
Jason
and then they have things to be thankful for for Thanksgiving holidays with family or friends, a good meal, oh yeah, a comfy couch or chair. Thank you. Notes your favorite Thanksgiving side dish, oh yeah. And there's so many good I know freedom of religion, yeah, working with your hands. Here's one, unconditional love, wow, uncontrollable laughter.
Ian
Oh yeah, that's good
Jason
teachers who don't give homework on Thanksgiving. You Yeah, cake, road trips, hot showers, yeah, okay, the smell of freshly baked cookies. Ian, okay, okay, okay, learning from unique cultures or traditions, good neighbors, seeing old friends, old photographs, grandparents sit down dinners, a nice cup of hot chocolate. Well, it's got four more fun, family traditions, mutual respect, finally getting to wear your favorite sweater and not being the turkey. Okay?
Ian
So I was recently watching a video, and someone said that Thanksgiving, obviously people make make it all about the turkey, but they were saying Thanksgiving is not all about the turkey. It's all about the side dish is
Stoney
that they were saying that, how many turkeys are eaten for things you're
Ian
right, you're right. But they were saying the guy, the guy in particular, was saying that even the people that say like, oh, but you haven't had my turkey, my turkey is the best. He's like, you're right. And I can almost guarantee that your side dishes are even better. Still. How many turkeys? Probably 1000s are
Stoney
eaten on Thanksgiving Day.
Ian
I'm gonna say some crazy like 9000 Okay, in 2019
Stoney
it was 40 million turkeys were consumed on Thanksgiving Day. And they're estimating in 2024 it will be 43 million damn turkeys. Um, interesting side dishes, stuffing has overtaken mashed potatoes as a America's favorite Thanksgiving dish in 2024 and that's according to all recipes, and that is varied by generation, with Gen Z favoring mac and cheese while the old. Or generations lean towards stuffing and mashed potatoes. Wow, yes. So how many calories do you think someone eat consumes on Thanksgiving Day?
Jason
I can't even imagine. I would say 1800
Stoney
average American consumes 2092 calories. And Gen Z individuals tend to consume the most at 2200 calories on Thanksgiving. And what is the afternoon is the most popular time for Thanksgiving dinner, with the older people wanting to do a little bit earlier, right? The you know, yeah, I've
Jason
always eaten Thanksgiving. Usually it's around one o'clock, right? But I've known a few people that do evening Thanksgiving dinners, and I know, matter of fact, we're talking about that this weekend, about possibly, maybe next year, trying to do an evening Thanksgiving instead of a, yeah, midday. Actually, I'm, I'll be running a short race Thanksgiving morning. You know, I'll be doing a they call it turkey trot.
Stoney
So think, think about this, if we consume little over 40 million turkeys every Thanksgiving at an average weight of 16 pounds. That's over 730 million pounds of turkey every Thanksgiving, wow. And 80 million pounds of cranberries are used every Thanksgiving. Gosh.
Ian
Well, I'm not even that big of a I'm not even a big fan of cranberry sauce. But okay, how
Stoney
many pumpkin pies?
Jason
I love pumpkin pie. How
Stoney
many pumpkin pies being consumed on Thanksgiving?
Jason
How many in the 1000s or in the millions? Millions? It's got to be in the millions, 50
Stoney
million. Yeah, pies are devoured, and it's consistently ranked as the top dessert across all age groups, really. Yes,
Ian
I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, but that's just a that's a me thing, but it's interesting to hear. Wow.
Stoney
Yeah, I thought that was pretty interesting. That's fun.
Jason
Well, I'm looking at some Pew Research right now, and they say nine in 10 Americans, 91% celebrate Thanksgiving. For example, 96% of Americans, 65 and older, celebrate Thanksgiving, compared to somewhat smaller shares of younger adults. Well,
Stoney
I also found out that the millennials Ian's group, and newer ones are moving away from Thanksgiving and going toward Friendsgiving. Yeah, we've even joked with Ian because he's had friends given a couple of times and hasn't invited us, so apparently we don't make it to his friends giving list, which is a joke. It is a buddy shortlist. It's because they're further away from their parents and they're more inclusive of people that maybe don't have families or aren't in cahoots with their families. And I thought the Friendsgiving was pretty interesting, too. In 1960 what was the average cost for a Thanksgiving meal serving 10 people,
Ian
I'm gonna say the hundreds of dollars, but not $12.72 for, like, the whole, like, it's like, like, Thanksgiving
Stoney
meal.
Ian
Servant, yes, oh. Servant, okay, no, no,
Stoney
that's the meal for, for 10 people,
Ian
get out. Okay, I'm tripping now you could for $12 you could have a whole 10 person meal. There's no way. What was the year on that you said?
Stoney
What did I say? Let me see. I got that from SELF magazine. That was 1960 1960
Ian
Oh my gosh. Because now it's got to be something crazy, like 200 bucks or whatever.
Stoney
Just Turkey alone is gonna be 25 to 40 bucks, exactly. So, yeah, wow. I was trying to
Ian
be conservative and go, like, that's gotta be like, what $100 for 10 people. That's wild,
Jason
interesting. Yeah, say I'm looking at here the the Thanksgiving dinner includes lots of other people. It's about a quarter 26% expect to have Thanksgiving dinner with more than 10 other people this year, including 7% who expect to have it with more than 20 others. Oh my gosh. So it looks like the sweet spot is six to 10 people.
Ian
Yeah, I would agree. Now, I
Stoney
was in 1621, that is the first Thanksgiving meal. All right, what was served?
Ian
I I would say, peasant. Hold
Stoney
on hold on venison. Wampanoag contributed five deer to the feast. I. Highlighting the important venison in their diet, the Pilgrims hunted birds, including ducks, geese and possibly wild turkeys. Although turkeys weren't the centerpiece as it is today, yeah, and because of its coastal location, they believed that some fish, some eels, clams and mollusks were probably included in the deal, some corn, yeah, that kind of stuff that the Indians brought the corn and porridge and things like that right into it, maybe some other native crops like squash and beans. So that's crazy, but it's not the same, you know, they didn't have, if you think about it, you know, we're talking about pumpkin pie and cookies and all this. Well, they didn't have flour and sugar and things like that back then. So they were more nuts and berries and things like that. Where the and this is from the Smithsonian that they didn't have potatoes either. Like mashed potatoes has been one of the biggest Thanksgiving things. Well, they didn't have potatoes yet. They weren't introduced into the New England area just yet. So I thought that was kind of funny, thinking of what we do today versus right, yeah, a couple of 100 years ago, what that would have been like. Can you imagine what that would have been like? Yeah, that's crazy.
Ian
How big of a group that would have been, yeah, that's
Jason
interesting. Now here's something. Dinner time preferences follow regional patterns. Americans who live in the Midwest and South are more likely to prefer Thanksgiving dinner in the early afternoon than the late afternoon, whereas people in the Northeast and West are more likely to prefer late afternoon than early afternoon. So yeah, they say also, they say 65 and older are more likely to prefer Thanksgiving dinner earlier in the afternoon than later. Meanwhile, adults under 30 more likely to prefer late afternoon over early afternoon. I
Stoney
wonder why? Maybe just timing. You know, lot of the industrial areas don't always get Thanksgiving off, so you had to wait until people got home. Well,
Ian
a lot of for me, again, when I was younger, it was always in the like early afternoon, directly after lunchtime, kind of time slot, because we would like, get up super early, we'd watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and then we would like, start cooking all the stuff and getting everything ready and and then usually it was done by the time like, you know, early afternoon was. But for me now in my personal life, whenever I've done Friendsgiving. I usually will, like, get up, clean the house, and then start cooking all the food and things and getting it all prepared, and then we'll have it in the afternoon. Usually. That's usually just, know when everyone's available. And it's also, I think it's a nice time. It's, you know, I like a nice nighttime dinner, especially with friends. And so it's always been fun to do that.
Stoney
Another fun fact, 19% of Thanksgiving meals include ham in addition to the turkey. You gotta have both. Gotta have both you gotta have. So it's about 77 million pounds of ham. Wow, for Thanksgiving, that's a lot. And in 1970 the average American consumed approximately, and I'm assuming this is for the year, 8.2 pounds of turkey annually. Gee, in 2021 that's nearly doubled to 15.3 pounds per person. So that's saying it's becoming even more popular, not just at Thanksgiving, but all around the time. You know, yeah,
Ian
year round,
Jason
that's it wild, right? By two thirds of US adults say someone at their dinner typically says a prayer or a blessing, okay? Or says things they are thankful for. So if there's 65% will say someone will say a prayer blessing. 69% will say what they're thankful for, and a majority of Americans, 56% say someone at their Thanksgiving dinner typically does both of these things, wow. And so it's interesting to break down the numbers on this particular topic. Say, saying grace at Thanksgiving is especially common among certain religious groups. For example, 91% of white evangelical evangelical Protestants say someone at their Thanksgiving dinner typically says a prayer blessing. The same is true for 88% of black Protestants, 74% of Catholics and 72% of white non evangelical Protestants. Prayer is much less common among those who say their religion is nothing in particular, 45% agnostics, 39% atheists, 22% and Jewish adults, 22
Ian
even, even atheists, 22% And we'll say something that's interesting. We'll say something. They say something, something they can be thank Yeah, or saying some sort of blessing of sorts. You
Stoney
know, this is a show about Thanksgiving, yeah? And millennials and Gen Z are more inclined to experiment with non traditional desserts, yeah, including vegan and gluten free options. So what are they really thankful for? If you're gonna have vegan and non gluten stuff, you know, you're kind of just killing the whole thing there, right?
Ian
Well, it depends. I mean, I wouldn't be thankful. Well, I know you wouldn't be. But like, there are some people that do have it depends on, like, at least for the Friendsgiving aspect of it. There are people that may have some restrictions that it is kind of nice that, you know, not everyone has to eat that, but, you know, someone can at least enjoy something nice. Yeah, I have tried to, I haven't done anything quite like that, because there's no one in my group that has any sort of condition like that. But I have tried some non traditional desserts for a Thanksgiving before. So why
Stoney
brown sugar?
Ian
I've done some, like, like, there was a interesting, I think it was one year I did, like, a key lime pie thing, which was kind of fun. And that was, like, probably not traditionally a Thanksgiving thing, but it was a nice, little refreshing top
Stoney
three are okay, pumpkin, pecan and apple pies. Oh, yeah, that's, that's like, that's your top three right there. Yeah, they don't have any numbers for the pecan and apple but, like I said, yeah, there was pretty good numbers for the pumpkin pie there. Yeah, and pecan pie is more highlighted in the southern areas, of course, with apple pie being in, you know, kind of everywhere, yeah, I do this fun thing with my apple pie. When I'm making my crust, instead of lard, I use bacon grease, wow. And I do mine on the grill. Okay, so you kind of get the bacon across the bottom, and you get the sweet, tart apple, and then you get the bacon and the smoke on the top, yeah? And you do it in a cast iron skillet, so it stays warmer in that longer. So when you plate it, then you top it with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, yeah,
Jason
really good together.
Stoney
It's like candy. Yeah, it is like candy.
Ian
That sounds awesome.
Jason
Well, they say, apart from eating, Americans expect to do a wide range of things this Thanksgiving. A lot will be watching football or parade are still fairly popular. Yeah, 35% of Americans say it's extremely or very likely they'll watch sports on on Thanksgiving, and 19% that same about watching parade. Men are more likely than women to say they'll watch sports while, while women are more likely than men to say they'll watch a parade.
Ian
Wow, makes sense. I can't say that I ever have watched sport. I mean, I'm not a big sports watcher, though, anyways, but I've never really,
Jason
yeah, and talk about, you know, kind of bringing into kind of latest news. They said, when it comes to conversation, 35% of Americans say it's extremely, very likely that they'll talk about work or school or think on Thanksgiving. And in the wake of the presidential election that saw more than 154 million Americans cast a ballot, 26% expect an election to cut, the election to come up, oh yeah. A similar share, 24% expect to talk about pop culture, like music or movies, although far fewer 4% expect to go to a movie, which was at one time, I think, very popular. That was the time to go to a movie. Was Thanksgiving night, like, after you've done eaten, it's, I remember talking about going to a movie, really. Yeah,
Ian
I can remember that there's a lot of big things that new, wicked movie came out, and so that's like another that's a big thing that people may go, may go, do.
Jason
Tell me, what'd you all think about this latest thing I saw about this, this movement for people to cancel Thanksgiving and or Christmas because of the what happened with the election? I haven't heard anything about that, but I saw some videos on that that you got a couple of female personalities that have. They said they have canceled, they've canceled plans with their husband to go to, especially if the husband's family were Trump voters, I see and she was a not a Trump voter. Yeah, that they are canceling time the holidays because they don't right. Well, it's not that I don't talk about it. It's not that they won't talk about it. It's actually because they view the election of Trump as an insult to them. I see it's like, you know, well, it reflects your character, that you voted for this person, and that means you don't like me. Yeah, so that means so that's how they're viewing it, which I think is a tragedy, but
Ian
especially, especially if there's grandchildren, exactly. It's
Jason
a shame that it's come to that, but unfortunately, we have to talk about it because it is very well. It's very relevant to where we're at today. Well, didn't
Stoney
we do a show early on when Thanksgiving is messy, oh, yeah, or something like that, Christmas.
Ian
Yeah, Christmas is Christmas. That's it. Yeah. Sorry, my brain. No, no, no, hey, hey, close enough. It's, it's
Stoney
Yeah. You know, people want to get, you know, they can't think about things to be thankful for. They just want to think about things that offend them. And, you know,
Ian
it's unfortunate, but hopefully that, I mean, it makes me sad that that person feels that way, but I mean that is, that is their truth, so I'll give them that but, and that's between that husband and that wife to discuss on what they want to do moving forward. So I've
Jason
got some some some stats here. So five Thanksgiving facts for 2024,
Ian
okay, $321
Jason
it's the average purchase spending over the five day Thanksgiving period, just on anything. Just says, just average spending over five day periods, 321
Stoney
bucks that include Black Friday, probably so. Or is that just for the Thanksgiving meal? Yeah,
Jason
it's 10 hours length of time the average American male would need to spend on the treadmill to burn 4500 calories consumed at the average Thanksgiving meal.
Stoney
That's going up a lot. Yes,
Ian
well, it depends on if it's if they're because you, I think you said it was 2000 or something. Maybe they're combining both in laws. Well,
Jason
it just shows you how much, how calorie dense our food is based upon the really, the set entry life that we live. Now, for many people, they don't I mean, look, when I ran, I ran 18 miles this past Friday, right? I burned 1700 calories. Wow, that you can eat 1700 calories quick. Oh yeah, you really can, yeah. So
Stoney
they got a shake over at one of the shake places that has 1600 calories out. I mean, really, wait what? It's
Ian
crazy. That is wild.
Jason
I think Stoney, you mentioned about Thanksgiving, turkeys. The number I'm seeing is 1.2 billion will be spent on turkeys. 46 million turkeys killed for the holiday. Wow. 26 million amount of property loss caused by residential building fires each Thanksgiving.
Stoney
Well, people are frying turkeys now, setting stuff on fire.
Ian
That's crazy. That's a good
Stoney
fried turkey
Ian
when it's done, right?
Stoney
You know what Miranda and I have been experimenting with is the spatchcock turkey. Okay. Have you seen those? No, okay, you can still put in the oven or on the grill, but you cut, I guess it's the backbone out, okay? And you flatten it out, and you flip it over, and you press everything down flat, and what it does is it creates a more even tone for it, right? And it cooks way faster, interesting, and it cooks a little bit more even. And if you do the skin right, I think you kind of poke the skin a little bit, and kind of salt the skin, yeah, and then you season it, and you may let that salt on it overnight with no cover in the refrigerator, and the skin gets kind of hard. Yeah, it's pretty fantastic. That
Ian
does sound pretty good. I'm not gonna lie. It's
Stoney
pretty cool, yeah, but there you can't beat a fried turkey. Oh, yeah, just don't burn your house down way out in the backyard. Yeah. October
Jason
3, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving, a national holiday, really. So that's when it started as obviously, the
Stoney
first one to pardon a turkey. Actually,
Jason
that was George H W Bush in 1989 real first year a president officially pardoned a turkey. I
Stoney
thought it was before that, according
Jason
to this, okay, two turkeys are sent to the White House each year.
Stoney
One gets it and one gets pardoned. Yep,
Jason
that's it. That's exactly.
Ian
Did they toss a coin to see who's gonna be? Who
Jason
they are? Four us towns named Turkey, really? Yeah, okay, there's one in Arizona. They. Is a Turkey Creek, Arizona, okay, there's a turkey Texas, oh yeah, there's a Turkey Creek, Louisiana, and there's a turkey North Carolina, wow, okay, yeah, average number of calories consumed on Thanksgiving, they show here anywhere from 3150 to 4500 calories. There's
Ian
no way it's like the recommended amount, like 2000 in a day.
Jason
About you're eating double what? Yeah, normally,
Stoney
I don't think it's 2000 I think a normal person should be like 1800 calories. It would
Jason
depend on the individual. What's going on? Have a person that's very active physically, right? You're going to need more than the person that really doesn't, right, 8.3 billion number of calories consumed by Americans at Thanksgiving every year from Turkey alone.
Ian
Wow.
Stoney
That's wild. Oh, how
Jason
could you even, like, get that 10 hours it takes the average male to burn 4500 calories. I can see that because, as I said, I ran 18. It took me a little over three hours, and it was seven little over 1700 calories, according to my watch.
Stoney
Just, just to throw in there, 2020, to 2025, dietary guidelines, Guidelines for Americans, adult film females for 16 to 2400 calories, and adult males, 22 to 3000 calories. Yeah,
Ian
wow.
Jason
So you're eating, you know, quite almost double Yeah, you know. But I could see that between the pies and yeah,
Ian
and especially with all day, right? Yeah,
Jason
all you do is eat all day. You know? What else you do? You eat and watch watch TV and you talk and you do whatever, right? Um, 13% of Americans plan to get takeout from a restaurant or to go out to eat for Thanksgiving. I knew people that did that. I
Stoney
knew that going out part, yeah, friends, that's what they would do. They would just kind
Jason
of a tradition. They go out and get something to eat, interesting. Um, average here they have this cost here, average cost of a 10 person Thanksgiving dinner, $61.17
Ian
i Wow. World's
Jason
most expensive Thanksgiving dinner, 2018 New York City's old homestead Steakhouse, $150,000
Ian
get out no there's no way for a
Jason
meal. For a meal, one meal,
Ian
disgusting
Jason
with 46 million turkeys killed. 54% of Americans say they will try adding new side dishes recipes on the menu.
Ian
That's fun. Last year, my brother and I tried a new like bake macaroni and cheese recipe, and it, it turned out pretty good. I think we could improve upon it this year, but it was a we just tried something new. How the stuff? Bacon bits.
Stoney
Okay. Bacon bits, okay.
Ian
Bacon bit. Got it. Got it. I'll add to the list. We tried something new. And he obviously, you know, he's, he has a culinary background, and so he, you know, took what, took what I had, and we made something really nice out of it, and it was really cool. But we both are thinking about doing something new with that this year. So
Stoney
well, that's, I said earlier. That's one of the newer, yeah, side dishes that are popping up. I
Ian
love a good baked macaroni and cheese. I also do love like mashed potatoes and stuffing, all those classics, man, you can't go wrong with those. 100,000
Jason
plus questions are answered by the butterball Turkey hotline each November. And okay, that's kind of fun. That's
Stoney
because you gotta think they must have extra people on. Dude. Answer those questions. Hey, you want a temporary job? I i How many 100 and
Jason
100,000 plus? Wow.
Ian
I wonder how many of those is. What is the temperature this Turkey should be cooked at? Probably. So
Stoney
how long? Why is that little thing not popping up. It's been cooking for 15 hours and the little thing hasn't popped up
Jason
yet. The average number of guests, including household members, is nine. Interesting. Okay, here it is America's favorite Thanksgiving dishes. 83% is Turkey. 78% is mashed potatoes, wow. 77% stuffing or dressing. 74% bread or rolls. 65% sweet potatoes or yams. 52% cranberries. I love cranberry sauce. 50
Ian
something percent love cranberry sauce. 50. 2% Wow,
Jason
I love cranberry. I really do. 68% of Americans will have turkey for Thanksgiving. 50% of Americans will serve mashed potatoes and stuffed and stuffing. 41% of Americans will have gravy and then the pies. Can't forget about the pies, 27% or other. 23% are pumpkin, 14% pecan, 12% apple, and it kind of breaks down, blueberry, cherry, chocolate and sweet potato, wow. 56% of Americans say offering meat free options for Thanksgiving is important.
Stoney
What are you thankful for? Then?
Ian
Probably a lot.
Jason
You know, thankful toast. Number one liquor that you use is wine, of course, two is beer and three is whiskey.
Ian
Oh yeah, there you go.
Jason
3.1 is the average number of drinks consumed by men on Thanksgiving. 2.4% average number of drinks consumed by women on Thanksgiving. Interesting,
Ian
87% of America. Funny thing is that I was like, That seems kind of low, but then I thought about it. Last night, I had a friends giving party, and I think I had three drinks. So I think I'm sorry,
Stoney
did you get that invite?
Ian
No, no, no, no, it was not mine. It was not mine. It was somebody else's. Okay. I was invited out to another friends. Did you
Stoney
cook them the brown sugar? No
Ian
cookies? No, I did not. I brought I brought other stuff. I brought beer, okay? And you had three and I had three. Yeah, correct 9.6
Jason
hours is the amount of time hosts will spend preparing for Thanksgiving. Wow, sounds actually more from my I know from my mother, she spends a couple days, eight days, days, getting ready.
Ian
He's like, prepared, like, oh yeah, man, that's
Jason
the average cost of a 16 pound whole frozen turkey is $17.71
Stoney
and you can do better than that. Miranda found one, you know, you just got to shop the flyers. And yeah, there's one store that, if you buy $50 worth of stuff or $75 worth of stuff, they give you the turkey for free. And oh my
Jason
gosh, 66% of Americans prefer their Turkey baked. Okay, 63% of Americans don't plan on bringing their turkey for
Ian
me. I don't prefer mine baked, but I have cooked mine baked because I am scared to to fry it, because I don't want to learn. I'll show you I don't want to burn my house down, but away from the house, 53%
Jason
of Americans say they eat leftovers for two to three days after hosting Thanksgiving. About right. Yeah.
Stoney
See, one of my things is, I like to save the turkey carcass and turn it into a turkey and sausage gumbo and beautiful, yeah?
Ian
One of the wonderful little bones, one of the main courses of the of the friends giving I was at last night was gumbo, chicken and sausage gumbo, or a turkey and sausage I can't remember, but I mean,
Jason
I'm gonna come. I'm gonna come take a cooking lesson from you, Stoney. I'm gonna pay you some money teach me how to cook. You may pay
Ian
for the ingredients. I
Jason
want you to teach me how to cook a good gumbo. Okay, I can do that. Would love to do that. Perfect. I'll even buy the ingredients. I'll bring them over and you show me what to do. So, so I would want to do
Stoney
that. You want to learn it from the room and everything. Yes, okay, yes, because you know the room can take 45 minutes to an hour just the room. That's so worth it. Yep,
Jason
that's fine with me. 20% of people will take part in a friends, giving, gathering,
Ian
nice.
Jason
61% of Americans believe Thanksgiving is not a good time to discuss politics with the family. And I would, I don't think
Ian
there's a lot of times that I would consider it good. But you know,
Jason
200 million, a record number of shoppers over a five day Thanksgiving period in 2023 really, 55% of Thanksgiving weekend shoppers said deals drove them to buy. Matter of fact, it's a tradition with my, my girlfriend's family. They they go out, they start early on, on Black Friday, and go do their they have their ritual they follow, and they go do their thing. And I've
Stoney
always been kind of the opposite from when Halloween happened, until little Christmas. Yep, you know what little Christmas is. You told us about it. Tiffany, I would not go into a store by Halloween. I would have four or five rolls of. Yoder and I would have everything that I needed, except for eggs and milk and bread, right? Everything I needed, because I wouldn't want to go fight all these people, all the crowds. If I had to jump in somewhere quick, grab some bread, I would do it. Yeah, but I can't stand
Jason
I'll buy a lot of people buying online now, yeah, it's at 5.6 billion amounts spent online on Thanksgiving Day in 2023, that was a 5.5% increase over 2022. 16 million thanksgiving greeting cards are exchanged each year. Wow. 1876 now this is an interesting stat. 1876 the year of the year the Thanksgiving football tradition began. It was between Yale and Princeton.
Ian
Really do they even have football?
Jason
Oh, yeah, yeah, that's something you don't know. Do
Ian
you not know who talking to? I don't know that. I don't got them
Jason
now you're gonna in 1920 it was the first year NFL games were played on Thanksgiving. Wow. Two teams have played every Thanksgiving since 1966 you know who they are? No, Dallas and Detroit, really? Yep. Is
Ian
it just like, is it just a tradition, or is it like a Yeah,
Jason
they've been playing on Thanksgiving, night day since 1966 those two teams, wow, Dallas and Detroit, they play each other.
Ian
Is that That's like I said, they they like plan that, or is that just, I guess it's the way it's worked. Wow. Okay, interesting. 1924
Jason
the year the first Macy's Parade, originally called the Macy's Christmas Day Parade, despite being nailed on Thanksgiving. Okay,
Ian
that's strange.
Jason
2.5 2.5 miles the distance of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade route. Wow, that's interesting. Um, 8000 plus people will participate in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in 2024
Ian
is that sounds like a lot of people, but I'm not sure. Is that a lot of
Jason
people? 8000 plus? It's 8000 plus.
Stoney
Is that participate watching or participate in doing the parade? Participate. It says
Jason
people will participate in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in 2024 from 8000 plus,
Ian
singers, dancers, yeah, float up, 15
Jason
balloons and balloon sickles, 14 parade floats, 12 marching bands at two performance groups, 2.5 million. Now this, this makes, this clarifies 2.5 million plus spectators typically attend. There you go. So the 8000 plus are the people actually a part of the actual parade. A lot of neat stats in here. 45 million plus estimated number of TV viewers every year. 30% of Americans will travel this Thanksgiving holiday. It is
Stoney
one of the biggest travel holidays. It
Ian
is i i can understand if my family was far away, but right now, I I can't imagine traveling during this time of year. I would, I would, I know, probably be more expensive, but I would travel before the holiday started and after, if I had to. But, and that's not always the case. 18%
Jason
of travel travelers will primarily drive to their destinations where 13% will primarily fly. That's actually smaller than I thought. Most popular destinations, New York, Seattle, Washington and Dallas, Texas, really, 507 estimated number of traffic fatalities each Thanksgiving weekend, 50. 57,800 number of people seriously injured in thanksgiving car crashes each year. Wow, four times as many home cooking fires occur on Thanksgiving as on a as on a typical day. Dang, 26 million in property laws caused by residential building fires each Thanksgiving. And then five estimated number of deaths due to Thanksgiving house
Ian
fires. That's so sad, man. So yeah,
Jason
it's pretty it's like, yeah, what are we most thankful for? According to this is 41% say family, 33% say health, 19% say life, 8% say job, finances, 7% faith, religion, 6% basic needs being met, and 5% of friends. So it's pretty neat a little this was a off called wallet hub. Yeah. Yeah, interesting
Ian
friends is so far down the list.
Jason
Bunch of interesting stats on on Thanksgiving. Wow,
Ian
that that speaks to me in a whole new way, that that list you just read off that friends is at the bottom of the list. Yeah. What does that mean for our society right now, dang, that people are more thankful for other things than some of the friends that have in their life. That's sad, because I think I'm sorry. The reason why I feel that way is because this year specifically for myself, I have not only was this the year that I turned 30, and I was worried about a lot of how this, this year was going to end up because of life changes that were going on. But I I have had so many great opportunities over the course of, like, just the past four or five months, and I've had the opportunity of meeting some really great and really wonderful people along the process, and I've made some really cool new friends along the way that I've been really thankful for, because they've gotten me out of a kind of a slump that I was In over the summer months. And it was so it's so interesting. I had an opportunity with the Renaissance Festival that I was talking about earlier, and I've met three new people, like, just on a whim and and they're wonderful people. And there was, again, with that opportunity, I was like, Man, I don't think I would have met these people if I didn't, if I didn't stop and did you dress up? Yeah, I dressed up. And it was a whole thing, and it was a lot of fun, like I always do. It makes it, I make it a fun. What do you go as I have a whole, like, character royal, yeah, got a whole, like, a big fur thing. It's all big, and it's all it's fun, and I have a lot of fun with it. So meeting these people, and it was just it was so cool to make new friends there. And then the production I was a part of back in October, meeting people that I would have never met, regard, like, like, outside of that context, and I keep in touch with some of them. This, this friends giving last night was a mutual friend of my brothers, and, you know, so myself, my best friend, and my brother were all there with him, and but it was his girlfriend and a lot of his work friends. And there was probably 15 of us there, and I made some really cool new friends last night. And so this whole year has been like, at least like this. The latter half this year, I've made so many new friends, I made so many new people, that it's been a lot of fun to to kind of get out more, because I was a bit like I said, going through a funk, and was going through a bunch of changes in life and stuff like that. And so it's just been, I don't know, it's cool to see that, uh, you know, I'm getting out a little bit and be new friends, and I'm thankful that they've been able to help me just kind of get my head on straight and, you know, keep my eyes looking straight ahead. So that's why I think I got so I don't wanna say offended, but I got a bit emotional by that, that, like, I love my family, love them to death, they aggravate the hell out of me. But, you know, there are so many great things I'm thankful for, but like, this year specifically, I mean, and I've said it probably last year before, like, even you guys just be able to sit here and do the podcast, has been I'm thankful to do this, and it's been fun to kind of talk about interesting new topics and things that I don't think I normally would have talked about or gone in depth with we've again, a lot of things.
Jason
I'm thankful for this podcast, because it's definitely expanded my, my my my brain. As far as I
Stoney
remember, considering you weren't sure you just wanted to do more than one, right? I
Jason
mean, it's just me. I didn't know how this thing was gonna go, and I didn't know how I wouldn't much. I would enjoy it. Would it? Would it become a chore? Would it become, yeah, some something that I viewed as a, you know, like another job. I mean, I, but I, I've, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here. You know, as I said, I'm excited for a future, and I think we have a tremendous opportunity to really, to really see something quite extraordinary. There's
Ian
been a lot of new listeners to the show. Like we talked about recently, the YouTube channel is now over 100 subscribers, and, yeah, a lot of listeners. And so it's really cool to see that even the show in its own way, that, yeah, has grown, and it's incredible
Jason
that we've we've done and as I said, I think we've got a good future ahead of us. We just have to stay on the path and and keep putting out good content and and hopefully people will give. Some suggestions on on some things that we're not thinking about, you know, so because we can't think of everything, and
Stoney
with, um, with this accident that happened last year, I have my dark days. Today is apparently one of those days, because it just seems like sometimes the bad news never stops. But I am still thankful for my Jesus. I am still thankful for my Miranda and Magnus. I'm thankful this year that I was able to reconnect with my father and his wife, my mother, my brother and my sister, you guys, all of my friends that have stayed in contact with me through this accident and and life. I am really appreciative and thankful of the podcast, because there was a time that I was going to stop doing it, but even my neuro psych people said, No, you need to keep doing it for your cognitive stuff. So I'm thankful that I listened to them and and kept pushing through. And I know that there are hard times for everybody right now, but just try to find something to be thankful
Ian
for. I agree 100% well, like we normally do, at the end of all the episodes, you can find us at retrospect pod, on Facebook or on, you know, any of the major podcasting platforms, we're on some new ones where you know, whatever, just be sure to follow and like where you can, so that way, you know, we can see some engagement. If you guys are actually enjoying it, leave comments where you can, because obviously, again, we're we're we're listening to those. We're looking at them, reading them. So we're trying to get some ideas engaging how you guys feel about it all. We have an email address get offended together@gmail.com where you can give us those more long form responses if you can't fit all your feelings into that small text box and the website. Website is retrospect, podcast.com, many different ways, where you can get in touch with us and we want to hear from you.
Stoney
Thanksgiving isn't always easy, especially when life feels heavy for many of us, finding gratitude can feel like a challenge when faced with hardship and our uncertainty, but maybe that's when it matters the most. Gratitude doesn't mean ignoring the tough stuff. It means holding space for the small, good moments amid the chaos. So whether it's a warm meal, a kind word, or just making it through the day. We hope you can find one thing to hold on to this Thanksgiving from all of us at retrospect, we're thankful for you.
Ian
Thank you so much for all the listenership that you've given us throughout the few years we've been doing this. I really appreciate it. Until next week. Thank you so much for listening. Goodbye,
Jason
goodbye, everyone. God bless.
Stoney
Take care. Thanks for hanging out with us today. You're the best. Peace.