I always thought that Thanksgiving was some weird american celebrations in TV shows like Friends or Simpsons, just made up for, ehr.... the "Thanksgiving Episode" and for jokes about stuffing the turkey...

Stuffing

Last Thursday of November. Nothing really exciting usually happens in the life of a normal european guy this day. Usually you just start thinking about the next Friday, and the next Saturday, and where to spend your Sunday afternoon after a tiring (football or booze) weekend. For an American, a true one, it's different.
Ian, my True  American© Friend, from Pittsburgh, Ice Hockey Player (and soccer player as well, but that's another story on a different website), invited me to spend some quality Thanksgiving time at his place, with his wife-to-be, Sarah, and two Ian's friends, Simon and Chris. He was the only True American© at that table, by the way.
I'm not really interested in why they celebrate Thanksgiving (ok, ok, that's a link with all the explanations!), cause at the end it's all about food and telly. Turkey and football. You eat, you drink, you burp and then you sit on the couch watching sport (american football in US, soccer in Europe).

Cooking for Thanksgiving is a huge task, let me tell ya.

It's not just the turkey. In this case, by american standards, the size of the turkey was comparable to that one of a big chicken (8 pounds, while in US the average size of a Thanksgiving turkey is around 20-25 pounds. I know, hard to believe, but hey, have you ever watched the Simpsons?). 
You need hours to cook it.
You need stuffing, you need gravy, you need vegetables, you need a pie (apple pie, lime pie, whatever). You need to watch all this stuff all the time, to avoid over cooking or burning something. And you have to carve the bird. Find the right balance between taste, texture, wine, beers and the start of the football game  is quite difficult indeed. You have to be american to do that.

Fortunately, Ian is a Yankee, and he did it. The dinner was delicious, the turkey very good and I loved the stuffing. I had troubles standing up from the couch and cycling home afterwards. And still the day after, I was full and happy.

It's all down to the turkey, and if you can stuff it or not. Great job, Ian.