As someone whose birthday falls in late November and a huge food consumption enthusiast, I love Thanksgiving. On a less superficial note, I love spending time with friends and family.
I love seeing my younger cousins’ faces light up when they find out they’re old enough for the big kids table. It doesn’t get old listening to my uncles, dad and Big Pop Pop argue about whatever football teams are playing that day, even though they aren’t football fans. My brother and my cousin Troy have a contest as to who can clean their plate the fastest and they get bellyaches before they can declare a winner. Then, when all the food and desserts that could possibly be consumed are finished, all of the cousins argue about which two get to break the wishbone from the turkey.
For the first time in a few years, my boyfriend, Eddie, is able to make it home for Thanksgiving. So this year I get to spend the morning with him and his family before he and I go and spend the evening with my family. Eddie will help his sister cook the turkey and he volunteered me to help cook pies. He also, somehow, talked me into participating in a charity race that morning, called the Turkey Trot 5 Mile. The only admission fee is any canned foods the participant is willing to donate for families who cannot afford to put Thanksgiving dinner on the table. I am more than happy to donate, but the running is a whole different story.
Thanksgiving is possibly my favorite holiday. You can’t make it a commercial holiday. I’m sure many people have tried. But Thanksgiving isn’t about gifts. It isn’t about your decorations. It isn’t even about the food on the table. It is about the people around the table; talking, bickering, laughing and everything in between. Thanksgiving gathers up everything important in life that you cannot put a price on and celebrates it all on the fourth Thursday of November each year.
I think because of the fact that Thanksgiving cannot be commercialized, it is an overlooked as a holiday. Since no one besides turkey farmers and companies who mass-produce canned cranberry sauce once a year make a profit off the holiday, companies skip right over it.
I don’t want to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I don’t want to be decking the halls and trimming the trees before December. I don’t want to think about snow until it is officially winter in order for it to be a wonderland. And Black Friday most certainly should not start on Thursday night.
There is no other holiday that people of any race or religion can celebrate. It is a day of giving thanks for everything and everyone in your life. It is a day, to not worry about stress from work or school, but be thankful for your health and all the happiness in your life. Why is that less important than buying “discounted” gifts for whomever you are getting Christmas gifts for?
Christmas is an important holiday itself but at another time and place. Nothing should be more important than spending time with the people that mean the most to you in the world. So for those of you who are already planning which stores you need to hit on Black Friday, reevaluate your priorities. If family and friends aren’t number one, your priorities may need an update.
