Thanksgiving is one of the most well-known yet overlooked holidays. It’s a day set aside to celebrate the people in your life that you are thankful for, except you add in a delicious meal.
For me, Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays. Coming from a big family, I love getting to spend time with them, eating good food and expressing our love for one another. It is, however, the holiday that brings me the most anger.
I have always enjoyed the lead-up to this specific time of year. The change in music from upbeat pop summer songs like “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus to folk and slower music like “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan just feels like fall.
Yet for some reason, the second Halloween is over, it’s Christmas this, Christmas that. No. Thanksgiving is first on the calendar and first in my heart.
I blame this partially on stores and businesses. Sometimes, even before Halloween, stores like Marshalls are putting out Christmas decorations, and advertisements are shoving holiday deals down our throats. It irritates me more than I wish to admit, especially as someone who loves the holiday season, even more so the decorating part. Meanwhile, most stores do for Thanksgiving is put a little turkey on some paper plates and napkins.
As a direct result, Thanksgiving becomes an afterthought – something to just get through until Christmas Day.
I understand the love for Christmas, including setting up the Christmas tree, putting out decorations, making Christmas lists and buying gifts for friends and family. But the joy and wholesome moments of Thanksgiving are constantly overlooked because of it.
Historically, the holiday was first celebrated in 1621 to commemorate a harvest feast between the pilgrim settlers and the Wampanoag people. They wanted to give thanks for a successful harvest that year.
It was, however, also marked by significant hardship for Native Americans following European settlement. It was officially declared a holiday in 1863 by former President Abraham Lincoln.
Now, in modern society, it is about giving thanks for everything you have been gifted in life, and that is something I will forever cherish. It is something so special that I feel is so overlooked. People truly take for granted the things in life that they have – their phones, homes, clothes and most importantly, family and friends.
Yet for some reason, society tends to think of it as just a Thursday when we don’t have work or school and get to have an amazing, delicious meal. In reality, that delicious meal is just one thing for us to be thankful for.
I am so lucky to come from such a large family that also happens to love Thanksgiving the way that I do. We collectively wait until after Thanksgiving to put up our tree. We wait until after Thanksgiving to start playing Christmas music. And we allow ourselves to truly soak in Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is a time for reflection, gratitude and togetherness. It is a reminder to appreciate the simple things in life and the loved ones who make it worthwhile. Leaving behind material distractions and embracing the spirit of Thanksgiving brings peace and fulfillment that lasts long after the holiday is over.
