THANKSGIVING night will welcome a spectacular phenomenon to the skies with Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn all in alignment.
To spot them you'll need clear skies and to face the southern sky after nightfall on November 25.
They will look like stars shining brighter than any of the others around them.
Venus will be the most visible and to the bottom right of the trio.
Jupiter will be to the top left of the trio with Saturn in the middle.
The spectacle will be visible after a day of Thanksgiving 2021 fun with the Macy's parade and three NFL games.
Read our Thanksgiving Day live blog for the latest news and updates…
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Cierra Jones
WHAT IS THE PARADE’S ROUTE?
Some viewers might want to watch the parade from a Manhattan sidewalk, but be mindful of the restrictions in place.
According to the Macy’s official website, only a limited amount of people are permitted at certain locations.
The parade’s kickoff location will be at West 77th Street and Central Park West, starting at 9am Eastern Standard Time.
The parade will then go through several locations that includes Columbus Circle, Central Park South and 6th Avenue, and West 59th Street to West 38th Street.
At the conclusion of the 95th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the festivities will stop at Macy’s in Herald Square.
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Cierra Jones
WHO IS PERFORMING AT THE PARADE?
This year’s headliner will be Carrie Underwood, as the event returns to its in-person format after turning virtual due to COVID-19 in 2020.
The singer of “Before He Cheats” will open the Christmas season with a song from her holiday album My Gift (Special Edition), which was published on September 25.
Kristin Chenoweth and Darren Criss will be among the other performers at the parade.
Kim Petras, Chris Lane, Andy Grammer, Nelly, Kelly Rowland, and the cast of Peacock’s Girls5eva will also be performing.
This year, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will revert to its pre-pandemic form, with a new route across Manhattan, high-flying helium balloons pulled by handlers, and crowds welcomed back to cheer them on.
For the first time, Baby Yoda is invited to the party according to NBC.
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Cierra Jones
WHEN IS THE MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE?
After surrendering to pandemic restrictions last year, the 95th annual march will return to form this year.
There will be 15 enormous character balloons, 28 floats, 36 novelty and heritage inflatables, over 800 clowns, 10 marching bands, and nine performance groups, as well as Santa Claus.
The 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will air on Thursday, November 25 on NBC at 9am through 12pm Eastern Standard Time.
The start and end time for the parade is the same for all time zones, everyone will be able to enjoy the parade without a delay.
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Cierra Jones
MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE
Macy’s, the largest department store company in the US, hosts the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, which is the world’s largest parade.
The parade began in 1924, tying America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit for the title of second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States.
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Cierra Jones
What are the Thanksgiving Covid rules?
The CDC has suggested a set of guidelines to minimize Covid spread this Thanksgiving. They are as follows:
- If you're eligible to get the Coronavirus vaccine, it is recommended you do so.
- The vaccine was not available last holiday season, but it's "the most important factor in safe celebrations this year."
- Travel safely. Traveling presents the opportunity for more Covid19 exposure. While traveling away from home, observe social distancing, sanitize regularly, and mask up outside of your Thanksgiving destination.
- Shop online rather than in person on the day after Thanksgiving or the next Monday
- Watch sports events, parades, and movies from home
When is Thanksgiving in 2021?
In the US this year, Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 25.
The US isn't the only nation to mark Thanksgiving celebrations – Canada, Puerto Rico, Grenada and Liberia do so too.
In Canada, the holiday fell on Monday, October 11.
WHEN DO SCHOOLS CLOSE FOR THANKSGIVING?
While schools empty their halls so faculty and students can enjoy the Turkey Day festivities, some schools vary on which day to start Thanksgiving recess.
A lot of education districts choose to let their schools out the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Thursday.
The Wednesday dismissal date gives students and faculty a four day weekend.
Letting school out on Wednesday enables everyone to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday, Black Friday, and utilize the rest of the weekend to prepare to enter school again.
HOW CAN I CUT COSTS?
The best way to cut costs is to be prepared with a plan.
Plan your meal and take advantage of coupons, keep your menu seasonal and avoid ingredients you won’t use again.
It’s also worth checking local grocery stores for holiday deals.
Some supermarket chains offer customers who spend a certain amount a free turkey or ham.
You may also want to avoid shopping on the Tuesday or Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
If not, you risk paying more for a name-brand ingredient if the less costly one sells out.
Lastly, make sure your guests RSVP. It’s best to know how much food you need to make, so you don’t make more than you need to.
Thanksgiving leftovers are great, but not if it’s more than you need.
WHY IS FOOD GETTING MORE EXPENSIVE?
Across the board, everything on your Thanksgiving menu will more expensive.
The higher prices are due to a combination of factors such as inflation, supply chain issues, labor shortages, and bad weather – just to name a few.
“I never seen anything like it, and I’ve been running sweet potatoes for 38 or 39 years,” Norman Brown, director of sweet potato sales for a farm in North Carolina, told The New York Times.
He added: “I don’t know what the answer is, but in the end it’s all going to get passed on to the consumer.”
Economists say higher turkey prices can be attributed to the price of corn which feed commercial turkeys.
In some places, corn prices more than doubled nationwide between July 2020 and July 2021.
Meanwhile, dinner rolls are more expensive because baking ingredients increased.
And canned cranberries are costlier because domestic steel plants are still catching up on production delayed from the pandemic.
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Cierra Jones
FRUGAL FESTIVITIES (PART FIVE)
TOTAL COST BREAKDOWN
$2.33 Turkey ($17.33 before $15 rebate)
$0 Gravy (after $1.12 rebate)
-$.02 Stuffing ($.80 before the $.82 rebate)
$.50 Green beans ($1.50 before rebate)
$0 cream of mushroom
-$.32 crispy onions ($1.96 before $2.28 rebate)
-$.10 mashed potato packet (after $1.88 rebate)
$.70 Sweet potatoes (1.3 lbs)
$.77 russet potatoes (1 lb)
$1.50 Cranberry sauce (free Great Value with rebate)
$.25 yeast packet ($.77 for 3pk)
$2.24 heavy cream
$.88 Margarine
$3.49 Pumpkin pie
$0 coke 2liter ($1.98 before
$0 jiffy mix (after $.52 rebate) -
Cierra Jones
FRUGAL FESTIVITIES (PART FOUR)
“Without rebates I would not have purchased the Coke, gravy packet, or jiffy mix. Additionally, I would have purchased Great Value brand cream of mushroom soup for $.50 instead of Campbell’s for $.98, I would have purchased a second can of green beans for $.50 instead of the frozen beans for $1.”
“This would have made my total cost $31.65 To save even more, you could have buttered green beans with salt and pepper instead of green bean casserole (saves you additional $2.46).”
“This means you can have a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner for under $30 without a single rebate, coupon, or discount price.”
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Cierra Jones
FRUGAL FESTIVITIES (PART THREE)
“In today’s video, I am showing you how you can make a delicious Thanksgiving meal for your family with only $8,” she said, adding however “the only way this extreme budget of $8 was possible is through the blessing of rebates available to everyone.”
“The total amount in rebates (for free items) came to: $25.66! However— you can still have a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner for under $30 without a single rebate, coupon, or discount price.”
The total cost was 8.72 “if you are able to find all of the available rebates in your local Walmart! I was unable to get the Great Value cranberry sauce, so I purchased the Ocean Spray for $1.50.”
She also explained that the turkey is free if it’s under $15, but her’s came to $2.33 given it was originally $17.33.
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Cierra Jones
FRUGAL FESTIVITIES (PART TWO)
“I know that there is a lot of food insecurity in our country,” Leah says, adding the “challenge is not just for fun,” but wanted to help spread awareness and get her viewers who can to help shelters and soup kitchens in need.
Leah opened up about her personal time visiting food shelters and urged her viewers to help those in need if they can.
“I will never forget when our family was personally struggling and one Thanksgiving,” when a group “put together boxes of dinner items including a turkey and came to our house and dropped off all of these groceries. It was such a surprise and such a blessing.”
“Maybe you can do the same thing this year and be inspired to find somebody in your community that is in need and be a blessing to them.”
Leah gave tips on how to save money when going out grocery shopping this season.
“Take advantage of what they’re offering right now and let’s get shopping,” she said of finding what’s available.
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Cierra Jones
FRUGAL FESTIVITIES
A woman was able to make a Thanksgiving meal for eight people for just $8 using coupon vouchers and extreme savvy savings.
A savvy shopper wowed her audience by showing people how easy it was to save money and cook a giant Thanksgiving dinner for eight people by taking advantage of coupon offers and smart shopping.
The woman, named Leah, said she’s “all about spending less and creating more” in her video posted to the account Savvy Saute.
“A low budget does not have to mean boring food. And the same holds true during the holidays,” Leah says in the video.
“So if you want to see how we make a Thanksgiving meal for eight people for $8 Stick around, this is Savvy Saute,” she said.
“With the holidays coming up, I knew I wanted to see what kind of low budget we could use and still create a delicious meal for our family and friends during the holiday.”
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Cierra Jones
WHAT DOES THANKSGIVING MEAN IN THE 21ST CENTURY?
As a tradition that had a more religious significance, several Americans have veered away from this to focus on cooking and sharing meals during Thanksgiving in the 21st century.
Interestingly, turkey has become synonymous with Thanksgiving even though it is unclear whether Turkey was even part of the dishes offered during the first feast with the Native Americans in 1621.
Indeed, turkey has become a staple on Thanksgiving to the extent that the National Turkey Federation has estimated that about 90 percent of Americans eat turkey during Thanksgiving.
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Cierra Jones
WHICH PRESIDENT MADE THANKSGIVING A NATIONAL HOLIDAY?
During the civil war, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863.
In declaring Thanksgiving Day as a holiday, President Lincoln stated: “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation”.
Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that Thanksgiving was to be celebrated on the last Thursday of every November.
This Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated in accordance with Lincoln’s proclamation from 1863 until President Franklin Roosevelt moved the Thanksgiving holiday from the last Thursday of November to the penultimate Thursday in November, with the aim of boosting retail sales during the Great Depression.
Nevertheless, President Roosevelt had to reverse his decision in 1941 due to the severe opposition he encountered from supporters of Lincoln’s initial proclamation.
Thus, Roosevelt had to reluctantly sign a bill to officially make Thanksgiving the last Thursday in November.
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Cierra Jones
WHEN WAS THE FIRST THANKSGIVING?
Colonists from Plymouth, England, shared a three-day feast with Native Americans in the New World in November of 1621.
However, this feast was neither named “Thanksgiving” nor did it inspire a national holiday.
Nevertheless, History.com stated that the meal did not feature desserts such as pies or cakes due to the dwindling supplies that the Pilgrims brought on the Mayflower.
Thus, the dishes were likely prepared using Native American methods.
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Cierra Jones
WHEN SHOULD I GET MY TURKEY DAY SHOPPING DONE?
The good news is that the day before Thanksgiving, Trader Joe’s will be operating at their regular store hours. Customers may want to stock up ahead of the holiday.
Trader Joe’s is also closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, with reduced hours on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
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Cierra Jones
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM TRAVEL SCAMS: AVOID CHARGING YOUR PHONE AT PUBLIC CHARGING STATIONS
While charging stations appear to be a convenient way to keep all electronics charged, criminals are able to hack the USB port to gain access to your device.
Hackers can download malware to access passwords and sensitive information keyed into phones.
It has been nicknamed: “juice hacking”.
Make sure to charge your device straight in an electrical outlet to protect yourself from being hacked.
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Cierra Jones
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM TRAVEL SCAMS: AVOID PUBLIC WI-FI HOTSPOTS
Be aware that connecting to a public Wi-Fi – whether in a hotel or an airport – that fake networks may look like the real thing.
Scammers name their network a familiar name so potential users connect and those people are a prime target for hacking.
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Cierra Jones
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM TRAVEL SCAMS: PROTECT ACCOUNTS WITH STRONG PASSWORDS
Avoid using common phrases and numerical sequences in passwords.
The national cyber security center worldwide analysis of passwords found that over 20million accounts used “123456” as a password.
It is also advised that shoppers have different passwords for each financial account.
Bank and credit card statements should also be routinely checked, and personal information like Social Security numbers or date of birth should never be given out to people you’re not familiar with.
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Cierra Jones
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM TRAVEL SCAMS: CHECK WEB ADDRESS
Crane Hassold, the Director of Threat Intelligence at Abnormal Security, recently told Forbes about a new scam targeting travelers that caught his eye.
Ahead of the holiday season, a fake TSA email has been making the rounds asking travelers to fill out a form with their personal details and to make a payment.
However, the site the email was sent from is owned by a scammer in Bulgaria who receives the money and personal information.
You can spot a phony email checking the web address the email brings you to.
“Consumers should always verify that the web address they are visiting to register for TSA PreCheck ends in ‘.gov,’ a TSA spokesperson told Forbes.
“Any website that claims to allow consumers to register for TSA PreCheck that does not end in ‘.gov’ is not an official TSA PreCheck website and consumers should not provide personal information or payment information.”
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Cierra Jones
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM TRAVEL SCAMS
Americans traveling this Thanksgiving have been warned that they could face having their banking information and identities stolen.
Hackers have been reportedly gearing up for this holiday season with phishing scams targeting TSA PreCheck members and Black Friday shoppers.
With travelers moving from one location to the next without a secure and private connection, keeping personal data safe is nearly impossible.
But there are ways to protect your information.
Below experts have shared key ways to keep your information secure this holiday season.
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Cierra Jones
FBI AND CYBERSECURITY AGENCY ISSUES THANKSGIVING WARNINGS
The notice urges executives, leaders, and workers in any organization to take proactive measures to avoid being a victim of cyber attacks, including potential ransomware attacks.
"Recent 2021 trends show malicious cyber actors launching serious and impactful ransomware attacks during holidays and weekends, including Independence Day and Mother’s Day weekends."
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Cierra Jones
HOW TO SAVE MONEY THIS THANKSGIVING: TRAVEL BY CAR
Around 48.3million Americans are expected to travel by car.
AAA says that’s an increase of 8.4% from 2020 and is higher than volumes seen since 2018.
Drivers can expect higher prices at the pump.
A gallon of gas is $1.29 higher than a year ago, according to AAA, and not this high since 2014.
The heaviest travel day will be Wednesday afternoon between 1:30pm – 6:00pm.
The best time to leave is before Noon the day before Thanksgiving or on Thanksgiving Day which may mean less traffic so you don’t burn your fuel sitting in congestion.
To make your current vehicle more fuel-efficient, you could get also rid of clutter, keep your tires inflated to optimal levels, and remove your roof rack.
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