Bursting the Gobble
Why do Americans bother with Thanksgiving?
The American holiday of Thanksgiving is about to take place, one which began with the pilgrims and Indians sharing a feast to give thanks for a good harvest. As time progressed and we moved away from an agrarian-based economy, the holiday became a day of giving thanks for the blessings in our lives and spending time with our families. And now Thanksgiving has evolved yet again–it’s become more of a “shopping holiday” with people abandoning the family dinner table and rushing to the stores to buy things for Christmas, because after all, the holidays are all about materialism, right?
For the longest time, Thanksgiving once supplanted Christmas as my personal favorite holiday since it was the only one that wasn’t commercialized. Christmas was all about presents, Valentine’s Day about chocolate and flowers, and the Fourth of July about fireworks. Thanksgiving, though, encapsulated for me what the holidays should really be about–spending time with family and friends, enjoying a good meal, and reflecting on positive things.
As a kid, I always thought it was crazy for people to line up outside of stores for Christmas sales starting at 6 a.m. Then it got moved up to 4 a.m. Then 3 a.m. I and my family thought the stores were really pushing it when they started opening at midnight on Thanksgiving night, but this year Macy’s and JCPenney will be open at 8 p.m. on Thursday while many Wal-Mart stores will be open 24 hours.
What happened to Thanksgiving? Have we become so greedy as a society to sacrifice one holiday for the sake of another? (And we Americans have so precious little time off to begin with.) What is more important–going to the store to buy something for our loved ones or actually spending quality time with them? And what about those store employees who no longer have Thanksgiving Day off? Keep in mind that what goes around comes around. Don’t be surprised if one day Thanksgiving becomes another holiday like Columbus Day and Veterans Day that everyone knows about but nobody has. Why can’t we all just boycott the stores on Thanksgiving and go back to the basics of family and turkey?
Why, indeed.
I wish everyone would boycott the stores that are opening early so no one would show up. If it hit their bottom line, they would stop doing it. But I imagine there will be those who will be standing in line, waiting for the doors to open. Unfortunately, we have become a society promoting materialism. It’s bad enough to see the Christmas decorations out before Halloween.
What also is sad is that soon as a holiday is over, the very next day, there is already candy and decorations for the next holiday. The stores always seem to be wanting us thinking of the next holiday instead of savoring memories of the one we just had. No thanks to Valentine’s candy in December.
I hear you! I can understand that stores want to encourage their bottom line, but we can make the conscious decision not to let the stores push the next holiday on us. Speaking for myself, I purposely don’t start listening to Christmas carols or put up the tree and decorations until the day after Thanksgiving at the earliest. I feel it’s important to be mindful and stay in the moment to truly enjoy it.