I promise I'm not a kill-joy; I'm super festive. I don't have much against Thanksgiving itself or the values that surround it. My problem is with how other people act during the holidays.

Do we seriously need to have a holiday to tell us to be thankful? The answer may surprise you - YES. Everyone gets so wrapped up in all the stuff. They forget they have a loving mom waiting to get a call, a friend that is always there, a cousin that is always down for a slumber party, or that they haven't had to bury someone lately. We need the third Thursday of November to remind us that we should be thankful to be here, to have our family, to have shelter, to have an opportunity, etc. every year. That's how selfish most people are. That's part of the reason I can't participate this Thanksgiving. I know most of the people sitting around the table are just itching to get ready to go Black Friday shopping - which is a total contradiction that I'd need an entire article to discuss. They're greedy, self-centered jerks all year until they have to remember the "real things" for a Facebook post.

Oh! Fakebook (not a typo) posts! Everyone gets to post their food pics at the same time to compare who is better at holiday-ing! On this day, everyone goes out of their way to dress nicely for one reason - the posts. Everyone hopes that someone can catch a pic of them for the 'gram or the 'book. So if we're so thankful for someone or something or a circumstance or whatever, does the entire world need to know just on this day?

I don't need the fake love just because the calendar tells you to do it.

Oh! Mid-March never gets any love. If someone is thankful for me on Thanksgiving, I hope they're thankful for me in mid-March, too. The holiday seasons are packed full of events and family-fun and lots of food, but you won't see most of them again for months - how sad. It's not about mid-March, it's about how everyone has to gush during the holidays, but they're not there for the other days when you could use some help, some company, or you just missthem. I sat down and thought about it for a long time, and I have realized (apart from my mom, dad, and son), I have seen, in total, FOUR of my family members since LAST THANKSGIVING. Why should I break that streak?

I'm not a grouch, but I feel like the huge event just doesn't work for dysfunctional families (it might actually make normally functional families dysfunctional). I won't ruin a good day off by being uncomfortable (or ruin someone else's by making them uncomfortable). I'll enjoy my break, and remember how thankful I am to have what and who I do, just as I do all of the other 364 days of the year.