Thanksgiving: That Holiday Between Halloween and Christmas
Well Halloween is sadly over. Christmas is right around the corner. Music playing and decorations starting to pop up. However, one holiday seems to get glazed over. That would be Thanksgiving. I had always looked forward to it. I got days off from school and some family time. I know we may not always want to hang out with family and it just seems more like torture. But that needn’t always be the case. We don’t always have to have a load of family to enjoy the holiday.
I would like to bring more celebration to this great holiday. Perhaps some decorations and I mean on the level of Halloween and Christmas. I understand that this holiday often feels like just a rather large dinner served with people we only see once a year. For years my family would have a lot of people over. It often required an extra leaf or two for the table. My mom would start the night before to make sure it was all ready.
I can remember the smells and the preparation. I see the pictures of my Dad, cousins, siblings, aunts & uncles. The table masterfully set and the food slowly cooking in the kitchen. All wonderful memories that I have yet to really be able to recreate. Less family, money, time, whatever it is or was, it isn’t the same.
Maudlin thoughts aside, I would like to see the holiday revitalized. Listen, I know we all want that warm fuzzy feeling that seems to accompany the Christmas season. Think about it; it starts during Thanksgiving. The smell of the fall, harvest, pies, and turkey. This is where it begins.
Instead of rushing the season by, how about we sit back and take it all in. Enjoy the changing weather, the crispness, and the beautiful colors the trees are proudly displaying. The years go by rather quickly as it is. It wouldn’t hurt to take a seat and slow down.
Far be it from me to preach to those who do not celebrate. Or to those who may not have the family to spend the time with. My family has shrunk considerably. My son has not known Thanksgiving the way I remember it. But we make it work. We start decorating the weekend after, start watching the holiday movies that night and begin the anticipatory wait for Christmas morning.
So, what am I trying to say? Let us not jump holidays and enjoy the ride until we are there. It goes by way too fast. Just as we are decorating everything and getting settled in, it is over. Drink your pumpkin spice (which I find revolting by the way), bring in those candles laced with pine and get those sweaters on. Enjoy it. Don’t rush it.
