Tis the holiday season. Halloween has ended and Thanksgiving is here. Everyone’s minds have quickly shifted from ghouls and goblins to holiday cheer. Christmas movies are on every channel and stores have brought out the trees, lights and candy canes. The colors red and green are everywhere. Black Friday advertisements are flooding television, magazines and social media. People everywhere are starting the hunt for the best Christmas gift deals. There seems to be a period of time directly after Halloween that because of the hustle and bustle of the Black Friday sales, the brain automatically switches to Christmas mode. However, one could argue that people are beginning to overlook a very important holiday by jumping straight to Christmas. This holiday is Thanksgiving.
It seems that every year, Black Friday starts a little earlier. Online stores especially are getting the upper hand by releasing discounted prices on the hottest new items. It used to be that everyone planned the day after celebrating Thanksgiving to begin their Christmas shopping. Soon after, stores started their sales at late hours of the night. This created crowds of people that busted down the doors at midnight to be the first ones in line. News stations have been covered with stories of violent fights breaking out over Black Friday disagreements. Now, the sales start as early as November 1 and can be done via phone. This gives holiday shoppers two months of time to prepare for Christmas. They may be so blinded by the sales that they may be overlooking Thanksgiving.
With the convenience of being able to shop from the couch without even having to leave home, people now have even more time to devote to Christmas movie marathons. Some might find it ironic that just as the holiday sales start the day after Halloween, so do the Christmas movies. Hallmark and Freeform are just a couple of the many channels that are known for their holiday marathons. It’s said that these constant replays of movies such as “Frosty the Snowman” and “The Polar Express” are to get people into the holiday spirit. As the cool winter breeze begins to fill the air, cozying up with a warm blanket and a hot cup of cocoa while binging one of the family’s favorite Christmas movies starts to seem more and more enticing. On the other hand, getting into the Christmas spirit so early could possibly be taking away some of the spotlight once held by the day known as Thanksgiving.
Every family celebrates the holidays in their own unique way. However, there is one thing that they all have in common. Planning. Inviting the entire family over for a meal and time together takes a lot more preparation than it looks. Upholding the Christmas traditions, a family must decide on a menu for the meal and then shop for and cook the food. They must also take the time to string the lights, decorate the tree and hang the stockings. Of course there’s the exchanging of gifts. The more elaborate the details, the more hard work and time that goes into preparing for Christmas. With all the money, time and effort put in to making the Christmas season spectacular, it seems as if Thanksgiving may be getting put on the back-burner.
Thanksgiving has always been something significant that people look forward to. Carving the turkey and stuffing pumpkin pie down the “pie hole” is something people have done for a long time. These days however, it feels as if the Christmas meals are getting bigger and the Thanksgiving meals are getting smaller. The reasoning for this doesn’t seem to be that people are just starting to care less about Thanksgiving. Rather, they are making Christmas a bigger deal. Don’t let the beloved “Turkey Day” get overlooked. Be thankful for Thanksgiving and enjoy it while it lasts!
By Emily Brosius, staff writer
