According to the National Turkey Federation, 44 million turkeys are consumed during Thanksgiving (about 22 million at Christmas).
The American Farm Bureau estimates this year the national average cost of a Thanksgiving meal is about $50 for a gathering of 10 people.
Across the country and as of October, the Department of Labor reported the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent or about 6.5 million people; of those, 952,000 Californians reported not being employed; 3.7 percent of those people live in San Diego County.
The United States Census Bureau estimated that in 2015 43.1 million Americans lived in poverty — the ability to meet basic needs such as eating. And, based on a three-year average, 20.4 percent of Californians live in poverty while 14.5 percent of people who live in San Diego County are at or below the poverty line (in Chula Vista the estimated poverty rate is 12.5 percent while in National City it is 24.5 percent).
A tad bit more than 29 percent of National City residents under the age of 65 do not have health insurance compared to 15.3 percent of Chula Vistans in that same group. Across the state there are 2.9 million people who do not have coverage and nationally that uninsured figure is about 28 million.
This year the trade group National Retail Federation expects that, on average, Americans will spend $608 on gifts for the holidays.
In 2016 the state’s estimated homeless population was 118,142; there were 8,669 homeless people in the county while 540 of those humans resided in Chula Vista.
The National Safety Council estimated that across the country 40,000 people died in traffic accidents last year.
As of Nov. 22, 2017, it has been eight days since the last mass shooting in the United States.
In 2013, U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics revealed 2.2 million people were incarcerated in prison or county jail; of those 218,000 were housed in California.
In 2014, 2.6 million people nationwide died from a variety of causes, from heart disease to homicide.
In 2015, 3.9 million people were born.
On average, the life expectancy around the world is 71.4 years, reports the World Health Organization — in the United States it is 77 for men and 82 for women.
As of today the sun rose 328 times so far this year and is expected to rise tomorrow, the day after that and the day after that and for the rest of the year, at least.
Depending on where you sit, how you stand and who you are, there was and remains quite a bit to ponder regarding that for which to be thankful.
