The Detroit Lions always play on Thanksgiving — here are 12 other things you might not have known about the holiday

Thanksgiving is this Thursday, November 23.
We all know the basics about the holiday, including the story of how it got started.
But there are some things you might not know about Thanksgiving, like the fact that FDR once tried to change the date.

We all know that the first Thanksgiving dinner took place when the Pilgrims celebrated a good harvest in the New World and that the tryptophan in turkey isn't actually what makes you so sleepy.

But did you know that Thomas Jefferson tried to cancel the holiday and that there was a "

Asta Thrastardottir contributed reporting to an earlier version of this article.

Thomas Jefferson canceled Thanksgiving during his presidency.

Most historians agree that Jefferson really refused to declare the holiday because he fervently believed in theseparation of church and state and thought that the day of "prayer" violated the First Amendment.

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade used live animals from the Central Park Zoo.

The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New Yorktook place in 1914, when Macy's employees dressed in vibrant costumes and marched to the flagship store on 34th Street.

The parade used

The parade was also originally called the Macy's Christmas Parade but was renamed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927.

Macy's originally hoped their "Christmas parade" would get their shoppers ready for big holiday shopping sprees.

There are three places in the US named Turkey.

"Jingle Bells" was originally a Thanksgiving song.

composed the song in 1857

Ben Franklin wanted the turkey to be the official bird of the US.

The Detroit Lions always play on Thanksgiving.

Football is so ingrained in the Thanksgiving holiday that many people think the game is just as important as the turkey.

One section of Plymouth, Massachusetts still looks the same as it did in the 17th century.

Plimoth Plantation is a living history museum dedicated to educating visitors and preserving the interwoven stories of the Native Americans and English settlers.

The museum was opened in 1947 by archaeologist Henry Hornblower II, and it offers a special Thanksgiving meal to holiday visitors.

The night before Thanksgiving is said to be the best day for bar sales in the US.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is anecdotally the best day for bar sales in America.

It makes sense, since nearly all Americans have Thanksgiving off, and dealing with family members can be very stressful. (

Thanksgiving leftovers inspired the first-ever TV dinner.

In 1953, the TV-dinner company Swanson overestimated the demand for turkey by over 260 tons,according to Smithsonian Magazine.

The owners of the company had no idea what to do with all the leftovers, so they enlisted the help of company salesman Gerry Thomas.

Taking inspiration from airplane meals, Thomas ordered 5,000 aluminum trays and loaded them with the turkey leftovers to create the first TV dinner.

FDR tried to change the date of Thanksgiving — and it caused a lot of problems.

Minnesota produces the most turkeys in the US.

Minnesota produces more turkey than any other state in America. The state produced about 44.5 million birds last year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

North Carolina, Arkansas, Indiana, and Missouri are also top producers.

There is an annual tradition of offering a turkey a presidential pardon — and no one is really sure when it began.

The White House has a tradition of pardoning one lucky turkey each year.

The annual tradition was thought to have begun in 1947 with President Harry Truman. But some think that it actually started in the 1860s with Abraham Lincoln,

Despite these two theories of the origins of the pardon, George H. W. Bush was the first president to officially grant a turkey a presidential pardon,according to The New York Times.