Thanksgiving day holidays

In the United States,thanksgiving holiday is a one day affair that falls on the fourth Thursday in the month of November.It is the beginning of what is referred to as the "holiday season" which runs through new years day.The first one that I celebrated was while I was living in the Clemson University area.We were invited Agbor's research advisers resident.We spend the whole day at his place drinking beer, while the guy prepared some burgers on his grill.I believed we also had turkey that his wife prepared.It is worth noting,that there can be no real thanksgiving celebration without your traditional turkey.As a matter of fact, thanksgiving day is usually referred to as "turkey day".
By the year 1987, I had moved to the Washington DC metro area and we started a long period of celebrating turkey day at William Tabots residence.Agbor will drive from out of town, at first from Clemson and later on from Winston-Salem,North Carolina and he will pick me up for the ride to Virgina.At this time,Mary,Mr.Tabot's wife had already graduated as a pharmacist from Howard University and was working around the area.The place was always full with different family friends and relatives of Mr.Tabot.Willie,as we all called Mr.Tabot is a bon vivant and he loved having family members and friends around,especially Agbor and I.Since we both were single at the time,we always knew that we had a place to spend the thanksgivings holiday.We will normally arrive at his resident around 12pm to 1pm,while the cooking was still going on.The early arrival allowed us to catch up on what has been going on in each person,s life since the last time we met.Staying abroad at times is so stressful, at times it is even difficult to pick up the phone and talk to your loved ones.Even when we where out of touch with Willie for some time, we knew we could always get in touch with him during the holidays and we were immediately invited over.There was a constant supply of beer.
Everybody loves to drink Heineken and you could have as many as you wanted.There were periods that I will go almost year round without a drop of liquor.That all changes on turkey day.This was a day to indulge yourself.We normally spend the night over at his place.There were lots of free rooms.We did not have to worry about drinking and driving which is a no-no in the US.Dinner time usually starts around 4pm and the table will be full of all variety of foodstuffs.A stuffed turkey bird is usually the main attraction and everybody gets a piece of the bird with some.
Thanksgiving day is also known for the traditional football games that the National Football League(NFL)organises for the day.There are normally two football games,an earlier game at 12.30pm involving the Detroit Lions and a later game involving the Dallas Cowboys.The Dallas Cowboys are referred to as"America's team"because of the large fan base that follows the team.They are also noted for putting up a good show for thanksgiving day.Even on the years that the Cowboys are having a down year, you can always count on them to compete.There have been some thrillers on thanksgiving day,I remember Dallas Cowboy's quarterback Danny White rallying the cowboys down from two touchdowns, to push the game against the Minnesota Vikings into extra-time.The Vikings ended up winning a 44-38 thriller in sudden death over-time, with the vikings defense intercepting a Danny White pass and running it back for the final score of the game.That was on thanksgiving's day November 26,1987.
On November 26,1998 the same Minnesota Vikings defeated the Cowboys in Dallas 46-36.Rookie wide receiver from Minnesota,Randy Moss caught only three passes against the cowboys,but all were for touchdowns as he finished the day with 163 receiving yards.
November 28,2002 the Dallas Cowboys defeated their arch rivals, Washington Redskins 27-20.Down 20-10,the cowboys came back to post their 10 consecutive victory over the Redskins,with Dallas running back Emmitt Smith rushing for 144 yards,becoming the only playing in history to eclipse the 17,000 career rush-mark yard.
Who can forget the 16-14 Miami dolphins win over the Cowboys in a heartbreaking defeat in what is considered to be the most memorable thanksgiving day football game ever.The cowboys had blocked a potential game winning Dolphins field goal with 15 seconds remaining for a seemingly sealed victory, when Leon Lett came slipping and sliding on the snow, reviving a dead ball that was recovered by the dolphins on the cowboys seven yard line.Pete Stoyanovich then kicked a 20 yard field goal to seal the victory.The Cowboys will go on to win the Super bowl that season but the snowy thanksgiving day game will be remembered for a long time.