food---the story of thanksgiving is that the early pilgrims might
have perished if not for the natives helping them out with food
(what is the story and the meaning behind Canadian thanksgiving?)
I recall that our family used to hold a sort of lottery
or rather at thanksgiving time we would put our names
in a hat and each one would pull out a name...
this was to plan for upcoming christmas gifts...
there is no real tradition of gift giving at
thanksgiving...but we used it as a time to
plan for the next family gathering which
would be happening a month in the future,
and then we only would have to get one
present instead of feeling obligated
to get something for everyone.