My reasons for being distressed about the disappearance of Thanksgiving are two-fold. First, Thanksgiving is not just another minor holiday like Flag day or Columbus day; commemorating an important event or piece of history, but barely noticed by most people. Thanksgiving is a big holiday in the United States. It's a federal holiday. Public schools get a 5 day weekend for Thanksgiving and most people get the day off work. There's the Macy's Parade, the football games, the pie and the turkey. Then there's the actual significance of the holiday itself. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God and the native americans for helping the pilgrims survive the winter. Most people celebrating the holiday today realize this significance and also show gratitude for their blessings and abundance. I personally love this holiday because I get to spend a few days relaxing and being with my wonderful family, one of the things I am most grateful for. And all the delicious food we eat is an added bonus. I understand that a big reason many companies have for selling Christmas paraphernalia so early is that they hope to make more money from a longer display time. Why not capitalize on Thanksgiving more? Sell turkey shaped chocolates! Pumpkin pie cups! (similar to a peanut butter cup. I just thought it up, but it sounds delicious!)
My second reason for annoyance at the early Christmas celebration is that it's just too soon! I love celebrating Christmas, and seeing all these Christmas-y things is getting me in the Christmas mood. I want to play Christmas music, wear Christmas sweaters, buy Christmas presents, and decorate my house with a tree and lights. It's just not time to do those things yet! There are still orange and yellow leaves all over the ground, not snow. I have to wait until after Thanksgiving to do those things. If I start playing Rudolph and White Christmas now, I'll be sick of them before December. And yet, my Christmas glee is hard to suppress.
Remember Thanksgiving! Don't be in a hurry to skip over it. We still have 3 weeks to appreciate the Thanksgiving season and express gratitude. There will still be time to fully acknowledge Christmas. In the mean time, I put this on display to appease my Christmas yearning:
5 comments:
What a beautiful nativity set! Wherever did you get such a wonderful thing???
Seriously, it really bothers me. And last year when this happened, I put up a mental block to ignore all the Christmas stuff, and then when it was actually time to be celebrating Christmas, I still had my mental block up. I missed my Christmas celebrating for at least the first week.
Well said Sheri! I love Thanksgiving! It's a time to count our blessings and give thanks. Because we do this, I am more prepared to celebrate the birth of our Savior!
You're baby is so cute!
Cheater! Unless your nativity set has turkeys in it, I don't want to see it 'till black friday!
Wait a minute... That's a good idea. I'm gonna make a turkey nativity set to create a whole new genre of cross holiday products! If I can work Easter and the 4th of July in there too, I can sell it year round! I dub thee, Easterpendence Christgiving.
I totally agree!!! I've been thinking the same thing for the past week. I walked into Sephora the first week of November and they were playing Christmas music and it just felt wrong. To me it just shows a general sentiment in society to show less gratitude and that makes me sad.
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