Happy Thanksgiving for Turkeys Apple and Cider

By Cathy Scott
Presidents have been pardoning turkeys on Thanksgiving eve for years, and this year is no different. President Barack Obama, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, pardoned a pair of turkeys, 21-week-old Apple and Cider. They will live out their days at Mt. Vernon.

In the past, pardoned turkeys have gone to Disney's California and Florida parks and a Virginia farm. This year, they're going to live with livestock at Mount Vernon, the home of the first President, George Washington, near Alexandria, Virginia, on the estate that once was a plantation.

Mount Vernon

"As President of the United States," Obama told the turkeys during the ceremony, "you are hereby pardoned from the Thanksgiving dinner table. May you have a wonderful and joyful life at Mt. Vernon."

A custom-made pen was tooled and ready for the turkeys, who were to arrive at Mt. Vernon by a horse-drawn carriage  and greeted with a trumpet fanfare.

Obama with Apple

It's only fitting. After all, it was George Washington who, in 1789, issued a proclamation for a National Day of Thanksgiving.

To commemorate this year's day of Thanksgiving, Apple, with Cider as the understudy, was officially pronounced the National Thanksgiving Turkey, and both were spared.