5 things you didn't know about Thanksgiving in Atlanta

ajc.com

Credit: Courtesy of the Atlanta History Center archives

Credit: Courtesy of the Atlanta History Center archives

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and from here on out, we're pretty much on full display.

We'll put marshmallows on top of our sweet potatoes, bread inside of our birds, our birds inside of even larger birds and smiles on our faces as we just try to get through family Christmas card shoots. We'll sleep through slow-moving NFL football doubleheaders, sprint off the calories chasing Black Friday deals (or, in a sign of the apocalypse, Gray Thursday) and remind ourselves how lucky we are to be alive.

Five facts you might not have known about Thanksgiving in Atlanta:

1 . You can earn your turkey with a morning run.

Feel better about that third plate by starting Thanksgiving at the Atlanta Track Club's half-marathon and 5k. The race used to be a full marathon before retooling in its current form. Don't miss the cutoff for entry, which is 11:59 p.m. Nov. 18.

2. There is no rule that says you have to eat at home.

If Thanksgiving around the table with family is a no-go, Atlanta has plenty of other dinner options. One great option: Mary Mac's Tea Room. Enjoy goodwill ambassador Jo Carter's one-of-a-kind back rubs while you take in the history at the gold standard for Southern family cooking. The restaurant on Ponce de Leon Avenue will serve a special Thanksgiving menu from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call 404-876-1800 for more information.

3. In 2013, it was the coldest Thanksgiving in Atlanta in more than 100 years.

That Thursday, the low reached 22 degrees, making it the most frigid Turkey Day since 1911. The tides have turned, though, and AccuWeather's early predictions have this Thanksgiving basking in autumn sunshine and relative warmth (low of 46 degrees and high of 61 degrees).

4. You don't have to work Friday because of Abraham Lincoln.

"... I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving ...."

And so it was born. Now if only more of us would use our free time to give back, instead of inaccurately attributing our sloth to tryptophan intake.

5. FDR changed the date of Thanksgiving, then promptly celebrated fake Thanksgiving in Georgia.

In what was later famously known as Franksgiving, Thanksgiving holidays were shifted forward from 1939 until 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Calling on the "moral authority" of the presidency to arbitrarily change the date of Thanksgiving, FDR's idea -- meant to spur economies in the Great Depression -- was met with a resounding historical groan. Stranger still in the fiasco is this picture of FDR carving up what must be a Franksgiving turkey in Georgia 1939, courtesy of the Atlanta History Center archives.

For more ideas about gifts, decorating, where to eat and what to do, check out our complete Atlanta Holiday Guide.