Thanksgiving 2005

Holiday travelers departing Los Angeles International Airport are viewed through a window Nov. 23, 2005. AAA said more than 37 million people would travel at least 50 miles from home during the holiday weekend, undeterred by expensive gasoline, rental cars and hotel rooms.

President Bush looks at the national Thanksgiving turkey, Marshmallow, during a ceremony pardoning the turkey in the Old Executive Office Building Nov. 22, 2005. In a break from tradition, the bird will be going to Disneyland, where the 35-pound tom turkey will be an honorary marshal of the Disneyland Thanksgiving Day parade.

Vice President Dick Cheney watches as Marshmallow, the national Thanksgiving turkey, is introduced during a ceremony in which President Bush pardoned the turkey in the Old Executive Office Building in Washington Nov. 22, 2005. Carrying the bird is James Trites, who raised him.

President Bush gives a reassuring caress to Marshmallow, a turkey from Trites Farms in Henning, Minn., the beneficiary of this Thanksgiving's traditional presidential pardon.

President Bush invites local schoolchildren to pet Marshmallow, the beneficiary of this Thanksgiving's traditional presidential pardon Nov. 22, 2005. Marshmallow will be flown to southern California where it will serve as an honorary marshal in Disneylands annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. Turkey farmer James Trites, right, who raised the bird, steadies Marshmallow.

President Bush invites local schoolchildren to pet Marshmallow, a turkey from Trites Farms in Henning, Minn., the beneficiary of this Thanksgiving's traditional presidential pardon, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex in Washington Nov. 22, 2005.

President Bush invites local schoolchildren to pet the beneficiary of this Thanksgiving's traditional presidential pardon, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex in Washington Nov. 22, 2005.

Stephen Small Salmon, a Pend Oreille tribal elder from Ronan, Mont., dances in front of local schoolchildren during the 13th annual Native American Thanksgiving celebration hosted by Flathead Valley Community College at the fairgrounds in Kalispell, Mont., Nov. 21, 2005. The ceremony provided education, entertainment and a Thanksgiving meal for the children.

Maria Isabel Urzua inspects a batch of turkeys at Neighborhood House in Calexico, Calif., Nov. 21, 2005. Urzua is cooking 40 turkeys to feed disadvantaged families on Thanksgiving Day.

St. Augustine School kindergarteners get turkey and the trimmings Nov. 17, 2005, during the school's Thanksgiving feast in Peru, N.Y. They are, from left, Seth Schaefer, Noah Kane, Erin Sears and Grace Sullivan.

Barbara Sampl picks some apples for a resident during the Thanksgiving holiday food basket distribution in Newington, Conn., Nov. 17, 2005. The Human Services Department distributed turkeys and other food for 250 households.

Felicity Duran, center, dressed as a pilgrim, sings with her schoolmates as they perform Nov. 16, 2005, in front of family and friends at the Hobbs Broadmoor Mall, in Hobbs, N.M., in celebration of American Education Week. Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, Nov. 24.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley pardons the life of a turkey named "Clyde" during a ceremony on the lawn of the Governor's Mansion Nov. 15, 2005, in Montgomery, Ala. The annual Thanksgiving tradition is in its 58th year.

Richard Bernard sorts fresh foods in a cooler at the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in Albany, N.Y., Nov. 8, 2005. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, the food bank sees a big bump in orders from soup kitchens and food pantries.

Cairo Public Utilities worker Greg Majors places the third of 100 holiday decorations atop a pole in that southern Illinois downtown area Nov. 16, 2005, as Old Glory flies beside him. Most retailers in the U.S. no longer wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for the holiday season.

These turkeys were photographed this fall at a U.S. farm. Ron DeHaven of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said there is no reason not to eat turkey this Thanksgiving. The vigilance of food inspection by the USDA, he said, should relieve any worries about H5N1, the strain responsible for the bird flu outbreaks in southeast Asia.

Thanksgiving Day parade volunteer Marla Getz of Detroit wipes down an inflatable star at the annual Giant Balloon Wash adjacent to Campus Martius Park on Oct. 29, 2005, in Detroit. Getz said she has been a Thanksgiving Day parade volunteer since 1990.

Marvin Bielec of Eastpointe, Mich., keeps an eye on his grandson, Erich Reichenbach, as he rinses off the soap from a Thanksgiving Day parade float during their annual Giant Balloon Wash on Oct. 29, 2005, in Detroit.

Milton Gardner sets up a Thanksgiving display at the O'Mark Building in downtown New Bern, N.C., Nov. 7, 2005, as businesses in the historic section of town begin preparing for the holiday season.

The windows at a Kmart department store were decorated for Christmas shopping Nov. 7, 2005, in New York. The outlook for the holiday shopping season, which hits a peak on the day after Thanksgiving, has brightened as many of the nation's retailers reported that their sales improved in October with the arrival of colder weather and the easing of gasoline prices.