Thanksgiving for this year has passed and it is time to move on to getting ready for Christmas. Now we can enjoy walking through the stores are looking at all the Christmas lights and decorations. The radio stations will finally be playing Christmas carols. We can think about what we will be getting our loved ones for presents this holidays season.
Oh, wait. All of those things have already been a thing, since the beginning of October. Walking through Wal-Mart a couple of aisles down from the Halloween costumes was the Christmas decorations. However, Thanksgiving decorations were nowhere to be found. What happened to November and the holiday that it is known for? It seems like we have all forgotten about Thanksgiving and just want to skip straight from Halloween to Christmas.
Halloween gives us a chance to eat candy and dress up as some fantastical thing to have some fun. Christmas is a time for spending quality time with family and making the kids smile as they open their presents and eat the homemade cookies. For those of us who are of Christian persuasion, it is the time where we celebrate the birth of the one who is our savior. But what about Thanksgiving?
Stores and commercials seem to have forgotten it is a holiday and a special one at that. It is supposed to be a time to remind us about all the good things we have in our life. It is so easy to be caught up in the negative aspects of the world and forget about all that we have. Our friends and family. Those around us who we care about and who care about us in turn. The things that we do have. It is a time to recognize and give thanks for all of it. But there is a problem. Thanksgiving is not as good for commercialism as these other two holidays are.
People spend so much money on costumes, candy and decorations to celebrate Halloween. Since so much of how we celebrate Christmas involves buying decorations and tons of presents, the businesses get a lot of money from people in regards to buying these things.
Thanksgiving is different, though. Sure there are some decorations, but they are not as big a deal and are certainly not as expensive to buy. Other than that, food is really the only thing that people have to pay money for. The rest of what is so great about this holiday comes from getting to spend time with loved ones, which is something that is both priceless and free all at the same time. It also teaches us to be thankful with what we already have. Well, that is as bad as it can get for a culture set on commercialism. Society wants us to want more not be content with how things are. Thanks to this, Thanksgiving has been swept under the rug quite a bit. We need to do some fall cleaning and rescue this wonderful holiday from under the proverbial rug and take some time being happy with those with care about surrounding us.
