In the 21st century, "Thanksgiving" is not so much about celebrating all that is good and great in your world in the company of your family but relief at finally getting to your destination.
More so than Christmas, Thanksgiving is the annual secular holiday in the US that draws far-flung family members home. And so it is that millions of Americans take to the roads and skies.
This year, an extra challenge is being presented to air travellers – new security measures introduced by the Transport Security Administration (again).
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Just when you thought it safe to put your shoes back on, say hello to full body scanners – x-ray machines that provide an almost-nude image of travellers – that have been described as virtual strip searches.
Not keen on an X-rated X-ray? Instead, take a new pat-down procedure – where a security worker will run his or her hand up the inside of a passenger's leg, along the butt and make direct contact with your groin.
Obviously, this has not been well received.
One woman has claimed a TSA employee reached inside her underwear during a search at Newark Liberty International Airport, something she described, not unfairly, as "demeaning".
"The woman who checked me reached her hands inside my underwear and felt her way around," she said. "It was basically worse than going to the gynecologist. It was embarrassing. It was demeaning. It was inappropriate."
In a separate incident, a 61-year-old cancer survivor was covered in his own urine after a search broke a urostomy bag.
"I was so embarrassed," said Thomas Sawyer. "my underwear had dropped to the floor and I'm standing there in front of them with my underwear and had to ask to pull it up."
Bizarrely, a veteran flight attendant was told by one security agent to remove her prosthetic breast.
"She put her full hand on my breast and said 'What is this?'" recalled Cathy Bossi. "I said 'It's a prosthesis because I've had a breast cancer,' And she said, 'You'll need to show me that.'
A video of an eight-year-old boy being searched at Salt Lake City has circulated on the Internet to much criticism.
Elsewhere, a high-profile blogger met more fame, of sorts, last week when she wrote about her experience at the Dayton International airport and compared her search to sexual assault.
"She felt along my waistline, moved behind me, then proceeded to feel both of my buttocks," wrote Erin Chase.
The TSA, for its part, has been attempting to engage passengers online rather than physically and even hosts a blog that offers information and comments on reported incidents, including clearing up just why pop star Lady Gaga was permitted to carry handcuffs through security.
Handcuffs, it turns out, are not illegal.
You can always rely on Germans, though, for some near-naked protests.
For the rest of us, Happy Thanksgiving.
Especially if you get to stay home.
