Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for what you have and eating your weight in turkey legs.

Thanksgiving is the day the pilgrims and Native Americans sat down together in peace. Thanksgiving also is the day the Europeans began their horrific genocide of the Native Americans.

Thanksgiving is the day before Black Friday. Every year, I hear all of these when I hear people talk about Thanksgiving. But I don’t know if they tell the full story. Sadly, unlike Christmas, there are not a million TV specials to tell me the “true meaning of Thanksgiving.”

It’s sort of an odd holiday really, as its one of the only ones everyone seems to celebrate.

Some people don’t celebrate Christmas, Valentine’s Day or Arbor Day, but everyone seems to do something on Thanksgiving.

Even people who wouldn’t know a pilgrim from an IT guy will still duke it out with the crowds for that last can of cranberry sauce. It’s also one of our only all American holidays, celebrating our own history and ideals.

And what about that history and ideals? Well, we can talk for days about what really happened on that first Thanksgiving, how it was exaggerated, what happened later, but the thing is, we weren’t there.

No one will know for sure how people felt about the big dinner between Native Americans and pilgrims, and maybe all those cartoons I watched as a kid with big turkeys and peace pipes and such were exaggerating or making things up to feel better about atrocities that would happen later, but really, how is that news?

People are constantly exaggerating history or changing it to fit their ideas. Thanksgiving has grown beyond just the past. So beyond possibly have the historical accuracy of an early ’90s animated movie, what is the point of Thanksgiving?

Like I said, it’s an American holiday, which means it’s about simple American ideals, like being with family and friends, coming together to talk, eat, laugh and watch sports, making delicious homemade food and giving thanks for what you have, and what you have worked for.

Maybe the holidays bring out the idealist in me, but to me, that’s what Americans should be about. Loving people, looking out for each other and giving thanks for what you have, no matter how much or how little it is.

In tough times like these, we need time sit back, relax and be thankful. We’re going to need all the rest we can get during Christmas season.