Giving thanks and gifts

With the Internet Black Friday is no longer the busiest shopping day of the year. The distinction goes to the Saturday before Christmas - and to Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving.

If you're in an office with Internet access, chances are better than half - 54.5% - that you'll be shopping at work today. With good reason of course: 72.2% of retailers plan a Cyber Monday promotion.

Some say higher gas prices may put a damper on gift giving this year. In a Consumer Federation of America survey, 38 percent of respondents said the cost of gasoline and home heating fuel would cause them to either somewhat or greatly decrease their holiday spending, up from 32 percent in 2006.

But with all the hot air retailers provide to promote their specials, and consumers' fingers doing the shopping online, gas may not be in such great demand anyway.

Thanksgiving numbers

In 1863 President Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday celebrated on the last Thursday in November. FDR modified the date to the fourth Thursday in November, to leave more time for shopping.

Mention Thanksgiving, and like the 1621 Pilgrims, we think of food. Americans made 7.2 billion pounds of turkey, 690 million pounds of cranberries, 1.6 billion pounds of sweet potatoes, 1 billion pounds of pumpkins, and 294 million pounds of tart cherries. On second thought, it could be we need that extra time for digestion.

The magic number for safety is 165 degrees - both turkey and stuffing - although some food experts say 170 degrees is best for thigh meat. And global warming might be helpful this time of year, if unusually warm days help save the economy by encouraging more shoppers to venture out and open their wallets. It makes one wonder who the turkeys really are.