After Thanksgiving…

Every year, people try to make Christmas “happen” earlier than it should. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and it is my favorite holiday. However, isn’t it a little excessive to start putting up Christmas decorations the second Halloween is over? It seems almost as if the country has forgotten that there is a major holiday in between Halloween and Christmas.

     Thanksgiving is a unique holiday that allows us to press pause on our crazy lives so we can spend time with family. It is time for people to reflect on all of the blessings that they have in their lives. Although we should always be thankful, it is nice to have a three day break to emphasize the importance of being grateful.

     Also, a big part of Thanksgiving is the food. Nothing is better than mashed potatoes, stuffing, and apple pie, all in one meal just to accompany turkey and/or ham. Families travel miles to share the important Thanksgiving meal with their loved ones. Family time is so valuable, so we should appreciate every second that Thanksgiving offers and the good food is a major plus.

     Of course one of the best parts about Thanksgiving is that it rings in the Christmas festivities. To culminate Thanksgiving is Black Friday, which marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. People spend hours shopping in the late hours of the night to early morning just to get the best deals on Christmas gifts, which can be fun and tiring all at once.

     Too much of a good thing can be bad, and too much Christmas can get exhausting. Yes, I love that we have a holiday solely dedicated to honor and celebrate our Savior’s birth. Yes, I do love everything “Christmassy”: songs, movies, and cookies. However, Thanksgiving should not be overlooked and needs to celebrated because there is value in the holiday that comes between Halloween and Christmas.

Whenever You Want…

Why yes, my Christmas tree went up before Thanksgiving this year. And it was greeted by several, “No! You can’t do that, don’t you care about Thanksgivings?”. Honestly, I’ve never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving, especially when it’s compared to Christmas. I mean, a holiday where everyone sits around a table eating turkey versus the arguably best holiday of the year? Not much of a contest. Obviously, a day meant for feeling thankful is a great thing, but just because I put up my Christmas lights on November 1, doesn’t mean I’m not capable of being thankful when mid-November comes around.

     The later and later Thanksgiving is, the less time there is for celebrating Christmas. Therefore there’s less time for gift buying, decorating, hot cocoa drinking, ice skating, listening to Christmas tunes, and all the other wonderful Christmas traditions everyone looks forward to each year. Christmas is essentially the entire month of December, but for some hardcore Christmas fans, that just simply isn’t enough time. Thanksgiving requires almost no prep time, not much decorating, and very few traditions outside of eating pumpkin pie and watching football. It’s not as if my time spent celebrating Christmas early could be used to prep for all the Thanksgiving celebrating I could be doing.

     As for feeling less thankful due to early Christmas celebrating, why do we one day a year for being thankful? Should we not be thankful for what we have all the time? I feel that most people are totally capable of being thankful while trimming a Christmas tree. If the American people should be angry at any holiday for overshadowing Thanksgiving, they should be mad at Black Friday. Many Black Friday sales start on Thanksgiving, and yet the people lined up for sales complain about how the mall already has a Christmas tree up.

      Nothing brings happiness to people like Christmas does, so if decorating a few weeks “too early” makes someone happy, why is that so bad? Christmas is a time for laughter and joy and spending time with the ones you love. All the great things about Thanksgiving can be seen in Christmas, except they’re made even better by twinkly lights and Michael Buble’s rendition of White Christmas. So stop resisting the joy of an early Christmas, Thanksgiving dinner will be just as special even if there’s a tree in the next room.