Straight from Halloween to Christmas…in a single bound! I’m sure some stores had Halloween and Christmas merchandise out at the same time. Yesterday in a store there was a rack of Thanksgiving items already on 50% clearance. On November 8th? And I’m hearing Christmas songs already? Thanksgiving is out of fashion, left behind as a relic of the past. Why is Thanksgiving off the calendar in our culture?
- No free candy from strangers
- There’s no reason to put on a costume. Pilgrims and Indians are now politically incorrect and unacceptable costume choices. No one wants to dress up as a turkey except the same guy who wears a lampshade on his head at parties (parties to which he is no longer invited).
- Nobody gives presents on Thanksgiving, so why get so excited. No kid ever got a Wii for Thanksgiving.
- There are no Thanksgiving songs … unless you know the theme to Mouse on the Mayflower.
- Thanksgiving means turkey. For days. And creative moms trying to fix it in new ways. ick.
- Thanksgiving is so close to Christmas, and it just seems easier to go right into the jolly old elf’s season.
- Thanksgiving doesn’t have cute lawn ornaments on the courthouse lawn for us to picket, be offended by, and demand they be removed.
Then again, perhaps our culture isn’t quite so shallow. Maybe those are just silly ideas with no basis in reality. Perhaps there are really good reasons to skip Thanksgiving and get right to Christmas.
- Because Thanksgiving is about family, and the concept of family has suffered much in our generation.
- Because Thanksgiving is about caring for others and reaching out, and people do not have much time for that any more.
- Because Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for our country, and patriotism is losing it’s place in our time.
- Because Thanksgiving is about giving thanks. Recognizing that there is One to Whom we ought to give thanks might offend someone.
It is possible that Thanksgiving is more needed than Christmas. I know Christmas has an amazing story about Jesus attached to it. We should celebrate that story all the time! Since you can’t display a nativity scene without someone fainting at the great offense, Jesus has been disappearing from Christmas for a long time. Christmas has become the holiday where we spend enormous amounts of money (whether we have it or not) to give children piles of gifts which they do not need and for which they have no room. No, I’m not a Scrooge, far from it.
But I think our land needs a good dose of Thanksgiving. I would hate for it to simply disappear somewhere between a pile of leftover Michael Jackson rubber masks and a new shelf of plastic candy canes. It deserves better. My friend Christina is using FaceBook this month to mention something every day for which she is thankful. I love that! My friend Mike is helping with a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless. What can we do to see that Thanksgiving once again gains the prominence it deserves? Post your ideas in the comments.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Cry out, “Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise. Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the LORD.” 1 Chronicles 16:34-36
Thanks for reading,
John
AWESome POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a Christmas fan, who doesn’t think the Christmas season lasts long enough, I’m disappointed with this article :)
Actually, you did a very good job making a very valid point.
Love ya bro.
I’m a fan of Thanksgiving. I think thankfulness is definitely lacking in this country. (even though I don’t make a connection between Thanksgiving and patriotism. Well, I do, but I’m talking about a different country. :-)
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
I know what you mean; who hit the fast-forward button? Here in Kosciusko, they just had the (Christmas) Holiday Open House on the Square this past Sunday afternoon. Leonard’s Department Store has had its Christmas display in the front windows since before Halloween. I think they plan next year to have the Christmas parade in June. lol
Thanksgiving seems to be a more sigificant holiday for me, for I am thankful for family daily, but the holiday is good to observe, seems to mean a lot more to me as I remember my Mom daily and very much so during the season beginning at thanksgiving. Of course I love food too..lol…
Great post Brother!
The church where I served for many years had a yearly event the Sunday before Thanksgiving called “In Every Thing Give Thanks.” It was a special day of praise and thanksgiving and hardly ever the usual Sunday worship. I hear they are doing nothing special this year to observe Thanksgiving, which saddens me.
The local Home Depot was fully decorated with Christmas items on display the second week of September, for crying out loud! I told the manager I though he could at least wait until Halloween! He didn’t like it either, but it came from powers higher up.
Great post, brother. I am trying to spend time in prayer each day–just for the purpose of expressing thanks… maybe I’ll have to blog about that! ha!
We celebrate neither Halloween(though it’s creeping in here) nor Thanksgiving in Australia and the commercialism of Christmas is relentless. We are inundated with it from early October.
I agree….take time to be thankful…….
Enjoyed your comments John. It is a great time to celebrate with family and friends. Looking for you and Margaret to be with us this year. We may have some of my homemade rolls?? I think that I may have recruited some help this year… Anyway, we love you both and y’all are in our prayers daily. Johnny and Carol