First things first: I love Christmas with every fiber of my being.
Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" is a classic. Shopping while being surrounded by Christmas decorations gives me an actual adrenaline rush. I have an entire marathon of Christmas movies that I watch every year that I never get tired of. Just looking at overly fat, decorated to the nines, Christmas trees make my entire day. It quite literally is the most wonderful time of the year.
Now that we got that out of the way, guys, it is early November. It not Christmas yet. Chill.
The minute Spooky Season is over everyone whips out the Santa hats and blasts "Jingle Bell Rock." It's trending to skip straight to Christmas. Yes, the memes are hilarious and Twitter is having a field day, but it's not even just the younger generation. I went to the mall on November 1st and, I shit you not, the Christmas decorations were already up. Like, what type of elf-hybrids have that much skill to do that in that short amount of time? Anyway, as I said, I totally love Christmas. And I really wish it was Black Friday—but it's not.
As a whole, we are skipping Thanksgiving and that's not okay.
Granted, it is kind of easy to overlook the importance of Thanksgiving sometimes. You sit down at a perfectly decorated table and immediately become entranced by the large amounts of food—because, hell yeah, pumpkin pie and turkey. But the trance is broken once your overly nosey family members start grilling you about your personal life. The next thing you know, your whole family starts to gang up and you're as roasted as the ham (am I projecting? Probably). Aside from all that, Thanksgiving's origination has kinda a rocky history too, to say the least.
Clearly, I'm not even that much of a fan of Thanksgiving. But, to its core, the holiday has a really beautiful message.
In a society where we have a world of knowledge at our fingertips, it is easy to become desensitized to how lucky we actually are. Not even material possessions, but the connections and bonds we make need to be recognized. It is a day where you share a moment with the people you love, even if they drive you crazy, and appreciate what the universe/God has given you.
Thanksgiving is a holiday of thanks. Christmas is a holiday of giving. You have to be thankful for what you have before you give to the people you are thankful for. I love Christmas, way more than I love Thanksgiving. But Thanksgiving's overall message is necessary, especially in a time where mass shootings are normalized. It is scary to say, but anything can happen, so it is important to savor the moments and be thankful for them.
So before you start blasting the Christmas tunes and watching Elf for the 100th time, think about what you are thankful for. Christmas is worth the wait.
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