That first cold Thanksgiving almost 400 years ago was neither a first nor a thanksgiving, and there were no forks. But it was a coming together to feast, to accomplish diplomacy, and to mark the harvest. Fast forward to now, and it is estimated, courtesy of the U.S. Commerce Department, that we are feasting on 254 million turkeys on Thanksgiving 2012. And if all our dining tables are blessedly absent of family squabbles, then we shall rejoice in a collective diplomatic achievement.

Seven years ago, Islesboro Food Historian Sandy Oliver coauthored with Kathleen Curtin an insightful book, Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving History and Recipes from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie, which set the record straight about our national holiday, the one that is not religious; does not commemorates the military, war, nor the nation's birthday; and is not a product of marketing (think Father's Day). Yet it is full of tradition, history, memories and family, the reflecting the essence of how we live. Over the centuries, it has evolved into a celebration of many customs, including football and shopping, but the centerpiece of Thanksgiving is always a simple blessing of the harvest and what it put on the table.

"At its heart, Thanksgiving is about comfort, ritual and nostalgia for a simpler time," wrote Oliver and Curtin.

While we chose the fourth Thursday in November as the day to collectively give thanks in this country, the notion goes far back in human history. In the U.S., there is a history of small little "t" thanksgivings and the big "T" Thanksgivings.

"Little 't' thanksgivings are conventional Protestant religious observances, called at any time of the year by colonial leaders to thank God for successful outcomes in peace and war, or relief from pestilence or natural disasters," said Oliver in Food History News, which she published for 20 years. "Big 'T' Thanksgivings, often termed 'general Thanksgivings,' were annual, autumnal holidays, declared by a state governor, celebrated in New England and in many other parts of the country, and were usually observed by a festive meal and often by family reunion."

In 1621, however, that first Thanksgiving was a celebration that occured after the harvest, in the spirit of an English harvest "home," when everyone in the neighborhood gathered for a day of feasting and entertainment. The English definition of "thanksgiving," on the other hand, was steeped in prayer to thank God for a special blessing, such as the return of the royal heir from far-off lands. The English at Plimouth apparently recorded their first thanksgiving in 1623 to commemorate the end of a drought, and there was no food mentioned. In 1636, the English again proclaimed a thanksgiving for defeating the Pequot.

It was the presence of Native Americans and its secular tone that put the Plimoth Plantation gathering in 1621 into the harvest feast category. And those feasts were about food.

"The 1621 Harvest Festival was not the first Thanksgiving; that is, if one were to interview the Plimoth colonists, in, say, 1631, asking them what they had for dinner on their first Thanksgiving, they wouldn't know what you were talking about," she wrote in Food History News. In fact, the first Thanksgiving was so noted until 1841.

Today, we have the Thanksgiving as proclaimed in 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln, who proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving. President Franklin Roosevelt later pronounced that Thanksgiving should always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month to encourage earlier holiday shopping, never on the occasional fifth Thursday.

Here are a few facts about our Thanksgiving 2012, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

254 million: The number of turkeys expected to be raised in the United States in 2012. That is up 2 percent from the number raised during 2010.

1.1 billion pounds: Total production of pumpkins in the major pumpkin-producing states in 2011. Illinois led the country by producing an estimated 520 million pounds of the vined orange gourd. Pumpkin patches in California, Pennsylvania and Ohio also provided lots of pumpkins: Each state produced at least 100 million pounds. The value of all pumpkins produced in the United States was $113 million.

768 million pounds: The forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2012. Wisconsin is estimated to lead all states in the production of cranberries, with 450 million pounds, followed by Massachusetts (estimated at 210 million).

64,380: The number of grocery stores in the United States in 2010. These establishments are expected to be extremely busy around Thanksgiving, as people prepare for their delightful meals.

37: Number of places and townships in the United States named Plymouth, as in Plymouth Rock, the landing site of the first Pilgrims. Plymouth, Minn., is the most populous, with 71,561 residents in 2011; Plymouth, Mass., had 56,767. There is just one township in the United States named Pilgrim. Located in Dade County, Mo., its population was 131 in 2011. And then there is Mayflower, Ark., whose population was 2,298 in 2011, and Mayflower Village, Calif., whose population was 5,515 in 2010.