Here's a few other ways to celebrate on Thanksgiving, once you've grown weary of all that family togetherness ...

Set your alarm

All you Black Friday shoppers can be thankful for a choice this year: Do you get to bed early so you can be up for the 4 a.m. specials at your favorite store? Or do you get started Thursday with the stores that open Thanksgiving night?

Then again, you could pull the night-day doubleheader: Shop Thursday night as late as you wish, then get up early and be back at it all the earlier on Friday morning. But you might want to fortify yourself with an extra serving of pecan pie ahead of time.

Watch all the football

Give in to the NFL gods, and hunker down for three NFL games Thursday: Houston-Detroit at 11:30 a.m. on CBS, Washington-Dallas at 3:15 p.m. on Fox, and New England-New York Jets at 7:30 p.m. on NBC.

Think of it: Nine hours of football, with 120-140 plays apiece -- that's only some 400 plays by the end of the night. Then again, folks with stopwatches have measured the actual playing time in NFL games -- from the snap of the ball until the player is tackled -- and it only amounts to 11 or 12 minutes in a 3-hour game.

And here's a bonus for you: Every time Troy Aikman, Phil Simms or Cris Collinsworth state the annoyingly obvious, go baste the turkey, or have another bite of pumpkin pie.

Hooray for Hollywood

Admit it: You've gotten tired of Uncle Phil's jokes about two hours ago. (Didn't he tell that same joke last Thanksgiving?)

So do what millions of Americans do: Go to the movies Thursday afternoon or evening.

This holiday -- and Christmas Day -- are regarded as the busiest days of the year by the movie industry.

So loosen the belt, stick the turkey in the fridge, and go see "Lincoln," "Wreck-It Ralph" or the latest "Twilight" saga.

-- Joe Ostermeier