What Happened to Thanksgiving?

There are several holidays in the year. January has New Year's Day. February has Valentine's Day. March has St. Patrick's Day. Then there is Easter. It falls in March or April. It just depends on the year. April has April Fool's Day. May has Mother's Day and Memorial Day. June has Father's Day. July has Independence Day, otherwise known as the Fouth of July. September has Labor Day. October has Halloween. November has Thanksgiving. December has Christmas. These are the main holidays that are observed.


I went to Target on November 2. That was just two days after Halloween and they already had up their Christmas decorations. Really? Yes! They did! Just after that I started noticing Christmas decorations going up EVERYWHERE!

Let's recall the holidays....New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, April Fool's Day, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Look at that again. The last few are Halloween, THEN Thanksgiving, THEN Christmas. What was that? There is another holiday between Halloween and Christmas? Yes, it is called THANKSGIVING. I don't expect people to decorate for Thanksgiving, but come on, let's not forget about it and put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving gets here! When the stores or anyone else goes from decorating for Halloween to then immediately decorating for Christmas, it is as if they have forgotten about Thanksgiving.

Is Thanksgiving not worthy of being recognized? What is Thanksgiving about? It is about being thankful. Most of us have at least one thing to be thankful for. Even if you don't have very much, or don't feel that you have a very good life, I bet you still have something you are thankful for. When you think about your life, remember that there is always someone who has it worse than you.

What is Christmas about? Christians put an emphasis on the birth of Jesus. The world puts an emphasis on wanting and getting, and sometimes giving. I want, I want, I want. It is like a little kid in a toy store.

What is this world coming to? Greed? Unthankfulness? It sure seems like that when the world jumps from Halloween to Christmas. Seeing all these Christmas decorations WAY before Christmas is almost turning me off to Christmas. I like Christmas, but really, Thanksgiving comes first. There is almost an entire month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There is about two months between Halloween and Christmas. Come on people! What is the harm in waiting to decorate for Christmas? You can do it the very next day after Thanksgiving for all I care. Why must we skip holidays? If Thanksgiving were some insignificant holiday, it wouldn't really matter. But it is not an insignificant holiday.

The pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. But the harvest of 1621 was bountiful. It is believed that the pilgrims would not have survived their first year without the help of the natives. Thanksgiving did not originally start out as a holiday. When the pilgrims and Indians sat down for that first "thanksgiving" dinner, they were simply having a gathering. Thanksgiving can however, be traced back to 1863, when President Lincoln became the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day. Since then, the holiday has been a fixture of late November.

I would have to say the origins of Thanksgiving are something to be very thankful for. The pilgrims were very thankful to the native americans for helping them survive. I know I would be thankful to someone who helped to save my life.

If you are one of the guilty ones in decorating already for Christmas, I will forgive you this year. Just don't do it next year. If you are not one who celebrates Thanksgiving, which IS recognized as a holiday, I would suggest thinking about Thanksgiving and what it represents and what it could mean to you. You might decide it IS something you would like to celebrate. If not, so be it. Just please, please, please, don't decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving!