Written by: Abigail Chaff
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it is easy to bypass the holiday altogether and simply say “It’s almost Christmas!” I am saddened to see Christmas lights already up and to hear Christmas music already on the radio.
Thanksgiving is a time of remembrance and thanks. This holiday gives us all a little break from our usual hustle and bustle to spend time with our families
and friends without
any pretenses.
Christmas brings with it, among other things, the stress of shopping for the perfect gift for just about everyone you know, coordinating times to visit family on the big day, and making sure you have a holiday date so your family doesn’t wonder why you’re always single.
Christmas is sadder than Thanksgiving. Everyone seems to feel lonelier on Christmas; it reminds us all that another year is coming to an end and that New Year’s Eve is quickly approaching. Christmas reminds us of all the things we don’t have.
“I don’t have enough money to buy the gifts I want to give,” “I don’t have a significant other to share the holiday with,” “I gained so much weight this season,” “I haven’t accomplished the things I wanted to this year,” and the list of negatives continues.
No one worries about anything on Thanksgiving. You are simply happy for friends and food. You don’t have to go to work, and you can sleep all day.
Why not enjoy the excitement of this great holiday to the fullest? Christmas basically gets the whole month of December.
No one thinks about Thanksgiving until the week before. Let Christmas take its time through the next month.
We should all be spending November making construction paper turkeys out of our handprints and practicing expanding our stomachs for the glorious feast of turkey and stuffing.
Thanksgiving is just a precursor to Black Friday, and the main purpose of Black Friday is to offer up sales for Christmas gifts. Once again, Christmas is the main focus.
Stores are opening at midnight on Thanksgiving. Instead of families lounging around together, they are probably all making battle plans for Walmart.
Maybe next year we can all slow down a little and actually give the thanks that Thanksgiving is supposed to remind us all of. Christmas will be here whether we celebrate it before or after Thanksgiving.
Let’s take our time this holiday season to enjoy the little things, like baking with friends or warming up by a fire with the family. Turn off the Christmas carols and eat some turkey.
