Thomas Jefferson once stated that the concept of Thanksgiving was “the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard.”

His concern was not that Thanksgiving is just an excessive feast celebrating an odd-looking bird, but rather a contradiction of his strongly held belief of separation of church and state. In Jefferson’s time, the holiday was proposed as a day of thanksgiving and prayer — the latter something he felt the government should refrain from advocating.

Now secular, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, one that commemorates survival through a hard season, friends and family spending time together, communities rallying around and supporting those in need, and food, food, food!

It is amazing to think that approximately 90 per cent of Americans are eating the same basic meal. Turkeys, of course, own the day.

Before they became the main meal, turkeys had some unique characteristics and exceptional skills. The wild relatives of your domestic dinner roamed North America more than 10 million years ago, according to the fossil record, and, much later, were one of the first animals domesticated in this country.

The big birds that you see wandering through Island neighborhoods are not domestic or wild stock; rather, they are feral birds that are the offspring of farm turkeys. And though these local birds seem to be slow and lumbering, their wild brethren can run up to 20 miles per hour and fly up to 50 miles per hour when spooked. Unfortunately for those destined to become dinner, soaring is not an option as commercially raised birds cannot fly.

Turkeys can see colors, but have poor night vision. And in a strange finding, they have been known to have heart attacks. This was realized after the Air Force conducted flight tests that broke the sound barrier and flocks of turkeys dropped dead.

More than 46 million of domesticated turkeys and likely millions of green bean casseroles of some sort are served on Americans’ holiday tables. About half of us put stuffing inside of the bird and I hope fewer than that add cream of mushroom soup to those green beans. But there is so much more to this decadent meal besides the meat and beans.

Behold the multitude of sides that add to the dinner; cranberries, potatoes and corn are just a couple of options. With so many choices it is hard to pick only a few, and why should you on this holiday of plenty?

Of course, there are those that buck the turkey trend, going for other options as the main dish. They may choose Tofurky (turkey made from tofu), turducken (turkey stuffed with a duck that is stuffed with a chicken, or skip the bird idea altogether. Dungeness crab, which is in season on the West Coast during the holiday, has been identified as an ocean-based alternative.

We should, however, all be wary of gluttony on this day. The Guinness Book of World Records notes that the largest dressed turkey weighed 86 pounds. That would certainly leave a lot of leftovers! It has also been estimated that we consume 4,500 calories (and 229 grams of fat) in just this one day! That is about 2.25 times the recommended daily caloric intake and would take more than 12 hours of walking or a seven-mile run to work off all that food.

So get up and get active or just go back to the table for the leftovers — there are no diets or judgments on this special, or maybe as Jefferson thought, ridiculous day. We should have only gratitude, good wishes and these words for this wonderful time of thanks.

“May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!”

Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature.