This was previously posted at Word of the Nerd on November 16th, 2012

Let’s be honest Americans, Thanksgiving rarely pops up on our radar as a thing anymore. Sure we get a lot of commercials telling us how to make sure this year’s Thanksgiving is the best one ever with the most perfectly cooked turkey in the history of cooked turkeys, but we all know the ugly truth.

Thanksgiving is essentially the autumn palet cleanser of Halloween that gets us ready for Christmas (even though most retail outlets have been getting their Christmas on since August). No one’s going for that sexy turkey costume and none of us are clamoring for harvest decor that smells vaguely of pumpkin. Other than the fact that we get a federally approved four-day weekend during which we stuff our faces full of food, what exactly is the point of Thanksgiving? How do we, as Americans, perceive this…