By mid-October Christmas commercials invaded our airwaves and San Francisco started putting up Christmas decorations. There was the occasional advertisement for Halloween candy, but since Halloween ended, Christmas is being drilled into our minds as if it will be here in three weeks.
I’m getting excited for the Christmas spirits to come out, the trees to be lit with bright lights, and presents to be given.
But there is one holiday between now and Christmas that seems to be over-looked and used only as the holiday to get ready for Christmas. That holiday is, of course, Thanksgiving.
A lot of people think of Thanksgiving as the Christmas warm-up, but it is so much more.
This is the only time of year when people are brought together for no religious or gift-giving purpose. The only purposes of this holiday are for families to come together, eat a lot of great food, and embrace what they are thankful for. Why muddle this positive family bonding moment with the acknowledgement of another holiday?
Besides, at Thanksgiving your main focus is eating with your family. During Christmas there are relatives coming in and out, presents to open, and possibly snow shoveling to take care of.
At Christmas the food gets lost in translation, and you can’t enjoy it as much. Also, there is no football game to watch when everything is over.
Christmas is my favorite holiday because of the cheer it spreads and the joy it brings to others, but Thanksgiving is the clear runner-up.
Although there is a lot of food eaten, the Thanksgiving meal is usually the only one of the day. The food is probably freshly made by the family and Thanksgiving is only once a year.
If you are watching your weight maybe you can run the Turkey Trot Road Race that takes place in most towns or cities so that you can burn the calories you will gain by dinner.
Some families’ tradition is to go out the day after Thanksgiving to do all their Christmas shopping because of the great sales. But Thanksgiving is not the holiday promoting consumerism.
It is the pressure that Christmas puts on Americans to have the best presents and the most presents as possible underneath the tree on Christmas morning.
Thanksgiving does remind us that the Puritans took land from the Native Americans. But the story of Thanksgiving is what we celebrate. Thanksgiving epitomizes American tradition.
No other country can celebrate this tradition because it is celebrating America’s history of the Puritans coming together with the Native Americans to share their food as people of the new land. Thanksgiving is better than people make it out to be and should not be hidden in the shadows of anticipation for Christmas. It should be celebrated and acknowledged as the holiday it is rather than be used as a holiday to get ready for another.
Erika Heyer is a junior politics major.
This time of year always makes me smile. As soon as I see the Christmas lights I know the holidays are getting even closer.
I blame my getting excited about christmas on those holiday cups at Starbucks
I hope everyone does take the time to enjoy Thanksgiving. On Friday morning, the Christmas Tree will be waiting for you and the Christmas wreath will be waiting to be hung. Until then, have some Turkey, take a nap and enjoy the day.