Confession: I’m not entirely sure what the American celebration of Thanksgiving is actually about, despite having lived there during the holiday back in 2007. Although I was thankful for the lack of queues when we visited Disneyworld a few days before the big day.

In the US, Thanksgiving is so huge it almost eclipses Christmas. Wikipedia tells me Thanksgiving can be traced back to pilgrim times and  “is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year.”

Sorry, I’m still none the wiser as to why it’s so massive … but I like the idea of Americans being festive without the presents, carols, baubles and other commercialism that surrounds December 25. Putting the focus on food and family instead sounds pretty nice to me.

Judging by all the posts on social media, Thanksgiving is just as big for celebrities as non-famous folk. And Los Angeles airport has been crammed with more stars than the Oscars red carpet as everyone made their way home for the holiday.

Here’s how the stars celebrated:

courtney-love-thanksgiving

katie-couric

shenae-grimes-thanksgiving

joan-rivers-thanksgiving

lena-dunham-thanksgiving

heidi-klum-thanksgiving

katie-holmes-thanksgiving

justin-bieber-thanksgiving

ashton-kutcher-thanksgiving

rumer-willis-thanksgiving

oprah-thanksgiving

minnie-driver-thanksgiving

charlie-sheen-thanksgiving

lee-ann-rimes-thanksgiving-2

sofia-vergara-thanksgiving

kylie-jenner-thanksgiving

martha-stewart-thanksgiving

kelly-rowland-thanksgiving

derek-julianna-hough-thanksgiving

Kaley Cuoco and Ryan Sweeting

lindsay-lohan-thanksgiving-2

tori-spelling-thanksgiving

emmy-rossum-thanksgiving

julianne-moore-thanksgiving

neil-patrick-harris-thanksgiving

hugh-jackman-thanksgiving

kim-kardashian-thanksgiving

rosie-odonnell-thanksgiving

josh-duhamel-thanksgiving

mariah-carey-thanksgiving

guiliana-rancic

rebel-wilson-thanksgiving

ian-mckellan-thanksgiving

jennifer-aniston-600