This time of the year tends to be a busy time for just about everyone. With Thanksgiving, Black Friday Shopping, and both Christmas and New Year’s Day being just around the corner, everyone seems to be stressing out trying to get everything done. Not only do we have the usual schedules to go through, but we have a Thanksgiving Day meal to buy food for and to prepare, Black Friday Shopping to save money for, Christmas gifts to buy, and New Year’s Day paraphernalia to purchase. With these holidays within a month and a half time, it tends to take a lot out of us, both physically and financially.

With the mentality that we have now, the true meaning of the season is completely ruined. We are so focused on spending money on food and gifts for others we completely forget why we even celebrate these holidays. The Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons have been turned into a commercialized, money-obsessed time of the year instead of a season of being thankful.

Thanksgiving Day should be a day of thanks, a day to be thankful for all that we have already. We shouldn’t have to worry about what others think of us and stress over going overboard on the food we buy. People seem to stress over going out and trying to work a few extra hours so that they can afford to go above and beyond on the Thanksgiving Day meal. With how Thanksgiving is viewed, being a holiday all about spending money on the huge meal, people find this time of year to also work all the additional hours to come up with money to buy Christmas gifts. The day after Thanksgiving, even the night of Thanksgiving, only hours after spending time being thankful for what we have, everyone goes out, pushing others around, trying to get their hands on the best deals on the best presents for that special person. The time right around Thanksgiving has been changed from a time of thanks to a time of obsession over long work hours and money being spent.

The belief of when Jesus was supposedly born set aside, the intention of Christmas is to celebrate the life of Jesus and spend time with family. Though the birth of Jesus is said to either be on Christmas day or sometime in spring depending on who you ask, Christmas is a day that is set aside to take extra time to celebrate the life of Jesus and everything that He has done for us. Though we should be celebrating Jesus all year, Christmas Day is a great excuse to be able to celebrate His life while being around family. Christmas, similarly to Thanksgiving, has been turned into a day completely different than the original intention of the holiday. Christmas has turned from a holiday that was supposed to be about celebrating Jesus to a holiday where everyone expects others to spend money on them.

I personally love the holidays, and I love getting to see family; I just hate what the holidays have come to. I hate how the holidays have been turned into times of the year where people are stressing to try to get extra work hours in and are stressing over trying to get the best deals to spend their hard-earned money on other people and cutting themselves short for their bills. I’m not saying that we should completely cut off the way that we celebrate these holidays because it is fun to celebrate in our own ways, but I do think we should cut back. People shouldn’t have to be expected to go all out for a holiday, especially if it means being short on bills and other necessities.

I hope everyone at least considers why he or she celebrates these holidays the way he or she does and thinks about what these holidays should be about.