The numbers that make Thanksgiving
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The numbers that make Thanksgiving

Updated 2211 GMT (0611 HKT) November 25, 2014
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Thanksgiving is full of numbers -- some big, some astonishing. For example, this Thanksgiving Americans will eat an estimated 46 million turkeys. That's a lot of bird. Getty Images/Justin Sullivan
To get to those Thanksgiving dinners, 46.3 million people are estimated to be traveling. Is it just a coincidence that the number of travelers and the number of turkeys are almost identical? Getty Images/George Frey
You can thank this woman, Sarah Josepha Hale, for leading the drive to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Hale spent 36 years on her crusade before Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the Thanksgiving holiday in 1863. Kean Collection
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has become a mainstay of the day. The event, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, is typically watched by 50 million people. No word on how many like Hello Kitty. Kena Betancur/Getty Images
Other mainstays of Thanksgiving Day are the annual NFL games, traditionally featuring the Detroit Lions (pictured against the Green Bay Packers) and the Dallas Cowboys. The NFL Thanksgiving Day game has been played since 1920. Getty Images
Be prepared to exercise: The Calorie Control Council says the average person will eat 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving this year. That's 3,000 for dinner and another 1,500 for "snacking and nibbling" -- a nice way of saying "all the food you'll eat while waiting for the turkey to cool." Photo Illustration/Thinkstock
And then, the next day, it's time to hit the mall for Black Friday (assuming you haven't gone Thursday night). Good luck getting a parking space: 92.1 million people reportedly went shopping on Black Friday in 2013. PA PHOTOS/LANDOV