Five Great Thanksgiving Things To Make Your Turkey Day Awesome

St. Louis Public Radio

Published November 28, 2013 at 5:00 AM CST

First of all - Happy Thanksgiving!

With all of the great Turkey Day stuff out there, we couldn't pick just one thing to share with all of you.

Here are a few fun, interesting, useful or otherwise-awesome things to make your day a little bit more enjoyable:

Classic: Turkey Confidential

Turkey Confidential is The Splendid Table's annual live call-in show, designed to bail you out of any last-minute kitchen emergencies and provide a backdrop as you and your family prepare for Thanksgiving.

St. Louis Public Radio will air Turkey Confidential on Thursday morning from 10 a.m. to noon.

The guests this year will be Mario Batali, PatiJinich, Ted Allen, Alexandra Guarnaschelli and Michael Pollan. To contact the guests during the show, ask questions on Facebook and Twitter, send them an email, or call (800) 537-5252.

Recipes from the show can be found at the splendidtable.org.

Funny: Answering Thanksgiving "health questions"

This "guide" from The Atlantic's James Hamblinis definitely for the older turkeys in your house but it's chock full of goodies like this:

If I'm in my in-laws' kitchen, and I don't know how to help, or it's just generally awkward, what should I do? Stir something.

Touching: 'Caring For Those Who Cared For Us'

An essay from Tracy Clayton for BuzzFeed sets the scene many Americans know well - of an aging relative's changing place at the family Thanksgiving celebration. It's about what shifts, but also what stays the same. An excerpt:

We move busily around her as she sits, eyes closed, head nodding to a song that no one else can hear, and sometimes we dare to wish aloud that she would get up and join us; that our Thanksgivings and Christmases and she herself were encased in Teflon and impervious to change.

Global: 'Thanksgiving In Faraway Lands'

NPR's Protojournalist Linton Weeks shares the experiences of Americans living away from their home country. Responses on NPR's social media platforms informed the story showing how traditions travel, or don't. As Weeks says, "Sometimes you have to do without; sometimes you have to make do. And sometimes, in France, you have to make deux."

Vintage: 'A Very Different Turkey Trot'

A really fun story from our friends at Vermont Public Radio. As they put it:

Today, the term farm-to-table signifies the epitome of local food. But nearly 200 years ago, it meant something entirely different when Thanksgiving turkeys traveled hundreds of miles from Vermont farms to Massachusetts tables -- on foot.

And with this photo as an example of these turkey drives, who can resist?

During traditional turkey drives to Boston, children of Vermont farmers typically walked with the turkeys, scattering food to lure them forward -- but perhaps they would have appreciated wagon rides.

Follow Kelsey Proud on Twitter: @KelseyProud