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It's here! It's here! The first day of November. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much I enjoy this month. If I had to choose a favorite, November would probably be it. (Thankful #1) Halloween is over. (Thankful #2) It is a month of birthdays. Two of my cousins, two of my best friends, AND my birthday falls in November — & everyone should be grateful for another year on this earth. Life is a gift. (Thankful #3)
Then, there is Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. (Thankful #4) It is a holiday filled with family (Thankful #5) & food (Thankful #6). Two of my most favorite things! And, perhaps one of the most obvious, it is a day to be thankful. . . to reflect on our blessings & to make them be known (Thankful #7). It is a simple, but meaningful holiday. I LOVE THAT.
It infuriates me that Thanksgiving gets crapped on every year.
I didn't realize how much until recently. I used to work in retail management for several years. It meant my Thanksgiving was terribly rushed, at best. BUT, more often than not, it meant I had no Thanksgiving because I was so exhausted & needed to sleep. I'd work late the night before, setting up for Black Friday sales, then I would go into work the night of Thanksgiving to open the store to let people get started on their Christmas shopping that much earlier. It was just part of the job. . . & while, admittedly, I do miss quite a few aspects of my retail career, I am so, so grateful to be out of its clutches. (Thankful #8)
Why is shopping for material things so much more important than spending quality time with your family? ON A HOLIDAY? Are we so used to our “go, go, go” mentality that we can't just PAUSE for ONE DAY to enjoy life's most precious things? I don't get it. I just don't get it.
Then, there are those that are of the belief that as soon as Halloween is over, Christmas is fair game. Um, WHAT?!
When did Thanksgiving start getting so disrespected??
Set aside its history & just look at its name. THANKSGIVING. Give thanks, people. Take the time. Enjoy it. Spend time cooking & eating & talking with your loved ones. Maybe even watch a little football. (My Seahawks are playing on Thanksgiving this year, I believe! LOL – Thankful #9.)
Don't get me wrong. I do not dislike Christmas.
It's just that it takes over. It's just not cool. It has morphed into a commercialized, ridiculously gaudy two-month affair that consumes everything around it. I am working on learning to enjoy it more since my mother's death. I truly am. BUT, why does it have to be so all-consuming this time of year? It doesn't help me learn to love it more.
I should be grateful that we all have the freedom to choose . . . & I am. Honestly. (Thankful #10) But, I have to admit that I just don't understand all of this hype. Let me enjoy my November. . . Then maybe I can learn to also enjoy Christmas.
What are your thoughts? Do you love Christmas & look for the time it is socially acceptable to let it take over? Or do you wish it'd quit creeping in on the rest of the year? Maybe you are somewhere in between. . . ? Comment below or strike up a conversation on Facebook. I'd love to hear your thoughts too.
This post was written in participation of the weekly link-up, Ten Things of Thankful (TToT), founded by Lizzi of Considerings. To find out what others are thankful for this week, please click here.
I agree…I like November too and really think Christmas needs to get scaled back (except for snowmen, those should be way more important).
Hahaha. Of course not the snowmen! I should’ve known. . . 😉 But, really, snowmen are more a symbol of winter than Christmas, I think. So. . . Yeah.
Can I get a free pass on this one? We don’t have Thanksgiving in England 😉 It’s pretty much straight to Christmas after summer, with barely a nod to Halloween, really. Cos that’s not a big holiday over here, either.
BUT I do hate all the commercialism and the trashing of the Christmas message, too, and the fact that this ALSO has become such a consumer holiday, rather than a time to focus on our nearest and dearest and just BEING TOGETHER.
Love is where it’s at.
Haha. You totally do, Lizzi! I thought about all my non-American peeps right after I published this. 😉 But, yes, the main point IS the commercialism of Christmas & the pausing to give thanks this time of year. . . So, I will agree with your perspective.
We’re trying to think what to do to make it more about how Christmas should be, this year. Think we’ve got it figured out, which is a nice feeling.
Will you be blogging about it?
Yes. Maybe. It’s one of those things which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable to blog about because it has the potential to make me sound like I’m trying to be a super-saint or something. I have a plan for a Christmas giveaway though – perhaps another one with writing. So there’s that.
Fair enough. I’d love to hear all about it, either way. . . IF you’re up for sharing, in whatever way. 😉
Shall I FB you? It would be good to bounce the idea of writing it around but I don’t really want to in public.
Yes!
I am not a thanksgiving fan but Im even less of a shopping on holidays fan. Does that make any sense?
It totally does.
Thanksgiving is HUGE in my family. When my daughter was about 10 she decided she wanted a multi-generational feast. We had 34 people that first year and have been doing it ever since (like 12 yrs now). It is just the best. I support you in your quest to bring Thanksgiving the respect it deserves!
I love that!! I would like to have that in my family again one day. This year, my husband & I get to host an uncle, a few cousins, my sister, & three of my nephews, along with one of my sons. It’s a step in the right direction. 😉
I agree Reta! I love November and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and it’s starting to not exist anymore. Most stores are now open on Thanksgiving and I think that’s awful. Christmas shouldn’t start until the day after. Actually for me I never start until absolutely necessary. I hate to shop, I hate the stress.
Oh my word! Shopping! A total separate subject here! I hear you! I am NOT a shopper. Too many people. Too much STUFF. Just no. I do like the idea of having family time, decorating a tree & the home the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving. . . But, I am just not there yet in actually wanting to do it. We’ll see. . . 😉
This post actually made me chuckle a bit. 🙂 I totally get what you are saying. I used to work in retail for about 2 years and it was crazy! First, I was at Express and then I was at Victoria’s Secret so I know all about it. My family doesn’t get involved with the hype at all since we don’t celebrate any holidays. We aren’t Jehovah’s witnesses. We just keep the Sabbaths and feasts in the Old Testament and that’s it. It actually makes for large feasts of thanks to be more often since we have a feast on New Moon Day (the first day of each month on the calendar in the scriptures). When we move, I plan to make a bigger deal about this day. I love cooking and eating with my hubby and son and I’m going to enjoy making these days as well as the other feasts more exciting for my kids as they grow up. 🙂
I’m glad to induce a few chuckles then! 😉 I have never heard of such a thing before! Sounds intriguing. I will have to educate myself a bit about it.
I love Christmas, but not the rushed commercial side. I love Thanksgiving, too. We try not to rush over Thanksgiving. We don’t put up Christmas decorations nor play Christmas music until after Thanksgiving.
See? Now that’s the way it should be. . . At least that’s how I envision the way it should be. It seems like that is a good balance of both!
I totally agree! Thanksgiving gets the shaft. It takes tons of work, cleaning, cooking and preparation. We should at least be able to take the day and thoroughly enjoy it before rushing into Christmas. My tradition is to start my Christmas decorating on Black Friday since I will not be caught dead shopping that day.
I love that! I haven’t decorated for Christmas in years, but that is how I picture it to be when I get back around to it again. 😉
Very true it has been overlooked and taken for granite and nothing should be.
Every year is a blessing!
Amen to that! 😉
We don’t have Black Friday in Canada but we do have Boxing Day which is the day after Christmas but everything is pretty much done and it isn’t that big of a deal like black Friday is to you. Like there are no camping outside of stores or tramplings etc. I don’t get it. It’s really sad.
It really is, Kimberly!
I love Thanksgiving! It’s my favorite holiday. I love the food and the family and the traditions that go with them. Your whole #8 is spot on!
I was flipping through radio stations in the car today and found one that was playing all Christmas music. On November 2. TOOOOOO SOOOOOOON!!!
November 2 IS way too soon for Christmas music! ESPECIALLY if it is all-consuming. LOL. Oh dear.
I am completely new to your site and fairly recently new to TToT…but I completely agree with you about Thanksgiving! It is my favorite holiday of the entire year for many of the reasons you state. That’s why I decided a couple of years ago to “challenge” myself for the entire month with a “Gratitude Challenge” and this year I am doing a variation of TToT. What I will be doing is every single day of the month I will list 10 things on my Blog’s FB page and encouraging all of my readers to do lists as well. I’m trying to make gratitude an epidemic that is sure to make us all happier and more grateful for all the good in our lives. Stop by if you get a chance… http://goo.gl/OH3QSC
Ten Things of Thankful is exactly that to me. Once a week gratitude. . . & something to strive for even when I do not feel like it.
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