Sure, Thanksgiving may be great when you look at the big picture: you get to see your friends from home and get a well-deserved break from school, which for some people is the first break they have had all year, but overall what is so great about the holiday? Why do people give Thanksgiving the title of being the “Best Holiday” when there are so many others that are more fun, such as Christmas, which provides a much longer break, Hanukkah, or even the Fourth of July? From the food to its meaning, Thanksgiving happens to be my least favorite holiday and here are some of the reasons as to why that is:
1. The food
Am I the only one who thinks that turkey is the plainest and driest piece of meat, no matter how much gravy you put on it? While some of the food is good, particularly the stuffing (with gravy on top, of course), how do we really know that this is the meal the pilgrims ate? As the saying goes, “pictures or it didn’t happen,” so how can we be so sure that they were not eating pizza? I personally think that that would make for a much better Thanksgiving meal.
2. The meal time
This is one thing that is just beyond me. Thanksgiving dinner, if you can even call it dinner, is eaten so early in the day it is ludicrous. This year I ate at 4:00 PM and I am willing to bet that I would not be questioned if I ate at 12 o’clock in the afternoon. Eating dinner at such an early time is not normal, but for some reason there is an exception on this day; my 4:00 dinner ended at my dinner time on a regular day. It messes everything up because the turkey makes people so tired that they are stuck sitting on the couch and sleeping for the rest of the day. Not only is laying down on a full stomach not the healthiest thing in the world, but since you eat and nap so early, you are bound to wake up hungry at some point, which not only ruins your sleeping schedule, but also your eating schedule. People sit down for their Thanksgiving meal expecting it to be the only thing they eat all day, which just does not end up being the case.
3. The conversations
At this point in time, politics are, unfortunately, a very popular topic of discussion and no matter how many times people say not to talk politics, it’s as if people are looking for some sort of argument. Since Thanksgiving was the first time many college students saw their families since the presidential election, a political discussion was almost guaranteed. On top of that, the memes that were all over social media leading up to the holiday about topics that would be discussed at the dinner table were all 100% accurate. Between politics and talk about school and the future, college students who barely know what they are doing day by day at school, let alone in five years, had to sit through a meal where they could actually feel their headaches develop and quickly increase.
4. No basketball
Due to the fact that football is a Thanksgiving tradition, no NBA games are scheduled on the day of the holiday, which is simply heartbreaking to me.
5. The values
In my opinion, I think it is ridiculous that there is one designated day every year that is dedicated to being thankful. Shouldn’t we be thankful for what we have every day? Now people focus so much on the meal and their plans, that they do not focus on what the holiday they are celebrating actually is. I cannot remember the last time my family and I sat at the dinner table and actually shared something that we are thankful for. Thanksgiving is also so commercialized because of Black Friday, which contradicts the meaning of the holiday. I myself am a huge fan of a good sale, but on a holiday where we are supposed to be thankful and grateful for what we have, Black Friday has people worried about material goods and appreciating good sales rather than appreciating good people, memories and kind gestures. We have now gotten to the point where Black Friday stars on Thursday night, forcing people to work when they should be spending time with their family and loved ones.
Between the food and the commercialization over the years, I consider Thanksgiving to be the worst holiday. However, one thing Thanksgiving will always have over other holidays is ten amazing episodes of Friends dedicated to it.
