Good morning and greetings, December fans. Yes, the Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone, as records were shattered in the consumption of stuffing department. I am left with a very pleasant memory, along with 72 cans of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce to commemorate this blessed occasion.

To year round cranberry sauce lovers, I say, crave the wave. Your taste buds will thank you.

Now in last week’s post, I looked ahead to the holiday, previewing how others celebrated this glorious gathering of food and stress. So with the sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and green beans now just a low carb memory, I thought I would take a look back at the holiday that brings some families together while ripping others apart.

As I’ve always maintained, be someone that brings out the best in you, not the stress in you.

Now first of all, the Pilgrims did not celebrate this festival with Trader Joe’s turkey gravy. Back in 1621, they decided to throw themselves a rave party to celebrate the harvest, so for the fixings, the men went “fowling,” as in the hunting of wild birds. Then a group of Wampanoag Indians showed up with five deer and enough deviled eggs, spinach dip and stuffed mushrooms for 50.

Looking back upon this first feast, the menu was quite exotic for the times. There was lobster, fish, sushi, chicken, rabbit, flank steak, squashes, dried fruits, aging movie stars, eggs, goat cheese, tater tots, chestnuts, hickory nuts, shrimp toast and spring rolls.

Not making it to the table were mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, bagels, corn on the cob, cranberries, whitefish salad and the most important item, gravy, which we all know is a key component to the success of the meal. And no forks were used for this feast, as this utensil didn’t make an appearance in North American until the 19th century. So we’re talking spoons, knives, fingers, chopsticks and slingshots.

Historians say the party raged on for three days, and included the 50 surviving Pilgrims and 90 Indians, as they ate, played party games, shot guns for fun and watched football and the Macy’s Day Parade.

Now according to my sources in the South Pacific, long before the Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower, native Hawaiians were celebrating the longest Thanksgiving in the world. This holiday was called Makahiki, and lasted four months, from November through February. During these months of celebration, work, war, surf contests and reruns of “Magnum, P.I.” were forbidden.

So there was no mention of turkey at this original Thanksgiving. And let’s face it, when we think about this holiday, turkey is the number one bird on the hit list. The great American statesmen, Ben Franklin, wanted the turkey to be the national bird of the United States. Me, I always favored the peacock.

So here’s a few fun facts about the approximately 45 million turkeys that were consumed and then exhumed on Thanksgiving.

There is evidence that turkeys have been around for 10 million years, or right around the making of the pilot episode of “Law and Order.”

Only male turkeys can pull off the gobble gobble routine, which is a seasonal call that drives the females crazy during their mating periods. Hens prefer to cluck, like in get me the cluck out of here.

Domesticated turkeys, or farm raised, cannot fly. So they go Amtrak. The heaviest turkey ever raised weighed in at a hefty 86 pounds, about the size of a large German Shepard or an small Austrian sheep herder.

Now here’s an unusual fact. Due to white meat being the most delectable and popular part of the turkey, these large birds have been bred to have huge breasts. As a result, the female’s backs are always killing them.

Now this takes all the fun out of the equation for both sexes because the domesticated turkeys are no longer able to mate, due to the breasts getting in the way of the mounting of the female. So they have to settle for a romantic dinner, a movie, then on to some heavy petting before they call it a night. Chickens have all the luck.

And finally, let’s give a shout out to Sara Josepha Hale, a magazine editor who is the author of the popular nursery rhyme, “Mary had a little lamb.” She urged President Lincoln to proclaim a national day of Thanksgiving, as until 1863, the holiday had not been celebrated annually since the first feast back in 1621. She believed the day would unite Americans in the midst of dramatic social and industrial change and awaken our hearts for love and home and country.

And most importantly, it would create a day for Americans to wake up at the crack of dawn, so they can get in line to wait for the stores to open at great malls of our nation. We know it as Black Friday, a consumer’s dream come true, and just the way God created it. Because only in America, do people trample other for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.

So for our holiday photo session, we are returning to Thanksgiving morning, 2014. I had slept in till 6:30, but when I saw that red glow on the eastern horizon, I dashed out of the house, parked the car at Bird Rock and sprinted down West Cliff to catch the amazing glow of the red clouds above Monterey Bay, before catching the sunrise over at Steamer Lane. Just a spectacular way to the start off the holiday.

On to some best of late night humor. “Yesterday New Jersey Governor Chris Chistie was asked about the slow pace of his weight loss and said, quote, ‘Rome was not un-built in a day.’ In fact, Christie and Rome have a lot in common: one was built by Julius Caesar, and the other was built by LITTLE Caesar.” – Jimmy Fallon “Ted Cruz of course, was furious that the big storm back east shut down the government. He said, ‘That my job!’ But you know, there is a big difference between Ted Cruz and snow. Both are white and everyone’s sick of them – but eventually snow goes away.” – Bill Maher

“The Arizona legislature passed a bill that would allow business owners asserting their religious beliefs to deny service to gay customers. Some businesses have already put up signs that read: ‘Nice shirt, nice shoes, no service.'” – Seth Meyers “Presidents Day, of course, started out as celebration of Washington’s birthday. Then someone remembered it was Lincoln’s birthday on the 12th. So now we celebrate Washington, Lincoln and all the other Presidents. I have no idea how this led to mattress sales. It’s probably something do with Bill Clinton.” – Craig Ferguson

“Yesterday the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks advanced to the big game, which means this year’s Super Bowl will have teams from the two states where recreational marijuana is legal. Or as pizza delivery men put it, ‘Pray for us.'” After the president’s State of the Union address, there will be three separate Republican rebuttals. Obama said, ‘Yeah, I live with two daughters, my wife and my mother-in-law. Three people telling me I’m wrong is a holiday.'” – Jimmy Fallon

So welcome to December. We’ll catch doubling your scoring average for the third straight season while nailing the three ball. Aloha, mahalo and later, Draymond Green fans.

Good morning and greetings, Hanukkah fans. Last Wednesday night was the start of the celebration of the festival of lights, and I’m not referring to cruising down Sepulveda Blvd at rush hour. But at the same time, it was Thanksgiving Eve, as the NFL nation got ready to set caloric intake records on Thursday.

Now why was this happening? I always feel there should be separation between church and real estate, as two big time holidays converging at the same time should be avoided at all costs, especially if there are potato latkes at stake. I should mention that Hanukkah runs for eight nights, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the holiday, but there was just something that didn’t feel right about the situation. It’s like ordering spare ribs or putting shrimp salad on a piece of challah. It’s just not kosher.

After all, before we start feasting on Thanksgiving dinner, some of us are already anticipating the second night activities, when the Pilgrims dined on leftovers. I believe it might have been John McCain’s great, great grandfather who first coined the phrase ‘Round Two.’ Who says you can’t reheat again?

Now the key to the second night is always having enough gravy, because dry white meat has been the ruin of many on the back end of the double dip. Of course, you’ve got to hope there’s still a good amount of stuffing left over from the first night. If these two key components are in place, then it should be smooth sailing ahead. Besides, by this time, I’m just thankful my shorts have an elastic waistband.

Getting back to Hanukkah, it’s a holiday that I always look forward to. It’s not so much the lights, the gift giving or the family camaraderie, but the applesauce and sour cream on top of a combination of shredded potatoes and grated onions that really puts me in the holiday spirit. Throw in a little flour, salt and eggs, fry them in oil that lasts for eight rounds of servings, and bingo, you’ve got yourself something that Martha Stewart would be proud of. A real holiday tradition, something that makes the world a warmer and happier place through carbohydrates.

So moving on to the photo department, here we were at the end of November and I had not yet shot a sunrise of note. Now others might say that every sunrise is spectacular, but what I’m looking for is something so colorful, so magnificent, so breathtaking that only Oprah could create it.

The sunrise drought ended last Tuesday morning, as I awoke and looked out the window and saw deep color in the early morning clouds. I immediately jumped out of bed, excited at the prospect at seeing some early morning magic in the sky. I rushed down to West Cliff and as you can see from the photos, was not disappointed at what then transpired over the Pacific, as the sunrise was just late November spectacular.

I realize that I am drawn to these moments, that perhaps I’ve found a calling. I’m not really sure how this all transpired, but at this point, with over six decades on the planet in the books, it’s a good place for me to be. It brought to mind the words of comedian Fred Allen, who once said, “California is a fine place to live, if you happen to be an orange.” Thank you and drive home safely.

On to some late night humor. “I remember one year Mom was fixing Thanksgiving dinner, the turkey is in the oven, and she’s tearing the house apart looking for her cellphone. Later, we’re all sitting down to eat and the turkey starts to ring. This year Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah are on the same day. I’m no theologian, but I think what that means is eight days of leftovers.” – David Letterman

“It’s that’s special time of year when your whole family gathers together in one place to look at their cellphones. And I’m going to start dinner by telling my parents I’m gay. It never gets old!” – Jimmy Kimmel “A new study found that parents who only have daughters are more likely to be Republican, which I guess explains why my Dad registered as Republican when he saw me throw a football.” – Jimmy Fallon

“The big news this week is that the U.S. finally got Iran to agree to stop making nuclear weapons. In exchange, the U.S. has freed up $8 billion of Iran’s assets. When asked how it plans to spend the money, Iran said, “We’re going to buy nuclear weapons.” The Patriots overcame six fumbles and a score of 24-0 to beat the Broncos in overtime. It was amazing. They came back from dropping the ball and being down 24 points. Or, as Obama put it, “What’s your secret?” – Jimmy Fallon

So that’s our post holiday report. We’ll catch you showing basketball fans why you’re the most explosive guard in today’s NBA. Aloha, mahalo and later, Russell Westbrook fans.