Halloween is barely in our rearview mirror and Christmas music has begun — it can only mean that it is Thanksgiving time.

As we cruise into this beautiful time of year, with the trees turning different colors, temperatures turning nippy and the promise of winter upon us, let us remember that it is also a time to give thanks. It would be nice if we had special music for this season like we do for Christmas. It might help to get us into more of a thankful mood instead of feeling like it is just a day to eat a big meal with extra family members.

The most familiar story of the first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth Colony, in present day Massachusetts, in 1621. More than 200 years later, President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving. Congress finally made Thanksgiving Day an official National Holiday in 1941. In Canada, it is celebrated the second Monday in October.

If you look up the meaning of the word Thanksgiving, it is explained as a day appointed for giving thanks to God for blessings granted to the nations. It is feeling grateful and thus expressing gratitude. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest pumpkin pie ever baked weighed 2,020 pounds and measured just over 12 feet long. It was baked on Oct. 8, 2005, by the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers of Ohio and included 900 pounds of pumpkin, 62 gallons of evaporated milk, 155 dozen eggs, 300 pounds of sugar, 3.5 pounds of salt, 7 pounds of cinnamon, 2 pounds of pumpkin spice and 250 pounds of crust.

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924. It was launched by Macy’s employees and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Today, some 3 million people attend the annual parade and another 44 million watch it on TV.

Here are a few other interesting findings I came across while doing research.

Three towns in the United States take their name from the traditional Thanksgiving bird, including Turkey, Texas (population 465); Turkey Creek, La. (population 363); and Turkey, N.C. (population 270). Snoopy has appeared as a giant balloon in the Macyás Thanksgiving Day Parade more times than any other character in history.

For you sports enthusiasts, the first time the Detroit Lions played football on Thanksgiving Day was in 1934, when they hosted the Chicago Bears at the Detroit Stadium, in front of 26,000 fans. The NBC radio network broadcast the game on 94 stations across the country — the first national Thanksgiving football broadcast. Since that time, the Lions have played a game every Thanksgiving (except between1939 and 1944); in 1956, fans watched the game on TV for the first time.

The National Turkey Federation estimated that 46 million turkeys — one fifth of the annual total of 235 million consumed in the United States — were eaten at Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving, the president of the United States receives a gift of a live turkey. At a White House ceremony, the president traditionally “pardons’ the National Thanksgiving Turkey, allowing the turkey to live out the rest of its life on a farm.

H.U. Westermayer once stated, “The Pilgrims made 7 times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”

Personally, I like to use the Thanksgiving holiday as a time to reflect over my life and especially this past year. It’s like taking “inventory” of oneself. Ask yourself, “What am I most thankful for?” It is a great time to count our blessings and to help others. We need to be thankful for both the wonderful, happy times and also the difficult times or disappointments in our lives. Researchers say we learn more from these times than from the easy ones. I always try to find something positive in each situation because there’s usually a silver lining. Balancing the good with the bad is the No. 1 factor for happiness.

There are endless ways to help others during this upcoming holiday season. Right now, numerous churches are collecting items for Samaritan Purse’s “Operation Shoebox.” Also, the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department will be accepting toys for the children who will be in the hospital during Christmas. There are many ways to help others in need. Just check with hospitals, school teachers and churches for opportunities.

I would like to wish everyone in the Ohio Valley a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday season. I would like to thank the reading public for your feedback on my articles. Also, I’d like to leave you with something I heard on the radio this morning: With all of the political antics we must endure this time of year, a lady came up with a slogan we can all enjoy. “Make America kind again.”

I would vote for that!