Probably nothing, but I've always been thankful that after an hour or two of sitting with my family, they're all distracted by something else.

The only thing I can think of is that we have time to enjoy pasttimes. 100 years ago, people worked much more than a 40 hour week and the working conditions were deplorable. Children worked in mines and factories. My grandmother had to quit school at age 12 so she could work to support her family. I think we should be thankful that we are not slaves to employers and that we can enjoy some simple pleasures.

If you think back on your American Histrionics class you will remember how the friendly Pilgrims invited the helpful Indians over for a feast in gratitude for learning that the fearsome turkey was edible and how to make succotash. The peaceful Indians were grateful that the God fearing Pilgrims had given them guns to kill off the other tribes. Unfortunatly they did not shoot the folks who made the succotash. One Indian got there late, all he got was some burnt marshmallow with a bit of yam on it, some soggy stuffing, and a spoon of whipped cream that had gone watery. As he was leaving the table in disgust he kicked a pig that was too lil to eat, and was just passing by. The Pilgrim that owned the pig, misunderstood, thinking the pig was being stolen he ran over and grabbed his pig. Another Indian thought the Pilgrim was the thief so he ran over to help his friend. Pretty soon every one had joined in. They were runnin here and there,knockin each other down, throwin the pig around, jumpin on each other, it was a mellee,some of the Indians even put on war paint, the women were so excited they were screamin and jumpin and even turnin flips. The poor lil pig even got kicked a few times. It was so much fun they decided to do it every year. Unfortunatly it got more and more violent, Indians were gettin shot and massacred; Pilgrims were gettin arrowed and scalped. Eventually they had to hold the annual pig game inside stone walls and make some rules to contain some of the violence, especially the scalpings. Even today there are parts to the game remininescent of the original,what with the displays of military might, face painting etc. And of course the a highly symbolic ceremony where some people buy up huge blocks of tickets and sell them outside the stadium at incredibly jacked up prices to folks who couldn't buy any cause somebudy bought up huge blocks of tickets. You guessed it, those people selling tickets are called...Pilgrims.

About as much as Christmas has to do with Christ, I guess. It becomes a tradition because people like it, so they don't question its origin or its reasoning.