Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday at least since I was a teenager. In the last few years I've finally figured out why. It's because of its simplicity. No expectation of gifts or disappointment without them, no required shopping, no commercialism, no debates over the right way for a Christian to celebrate it. Just family, thankfulness, and lots of food. It's the one major holiday that hasn't been totally commercialized and turned into a disgusting season of material splurging.
I used to roll my eyes at how early the Christmas decorations came out in stores. (Now don't get me wrong, I love Christmas decorations AND Christmas music! But not before their time!) Anyway, I used to just roll my eyes as it started earlier and earlier each year. But this year for some reason it has really upset me! I've always been disappointed that Easter and Valentine's Day and Halloween and Christmas take over huge sections of the stores, while Thanksgiving gets one little shelf of fall-colored paper plates and turkey decals. But this year I'm really angry about it. And instead of enjoying the Christmas music wafting through the aisles, it actually makes me angry to hear it. What kind of Scrooge gets angry at Christmas music!?
But let me explain. Instead of Thanksgiving being a somewhat-overlooked holiday, it has become completely trampled by Christmas shopping. Now I admit, I've never had the least desire to go shopping on Black Friday. I usually hate shopping to begin with, and who in their right mind wants to go shopping on the most crowded day of the year?! The day after Thanksgiving has always been a special time for my family growing up (decorating for Christmas, eating leftover turkey, just hanging out), and we've continued that tradition with our own kids. So I've never even been tempted to shop on Thanksgiving weekend. But I've noticed the sales starting earlier and earlier. It used to be stores would open at 7 am, then 5 am, then midnight. Now they're open on Thanksgiving Day so you don't even have to waste time being thankful, you can just start a day early on the consumer frenzy. It's disgusting.
This whole post is really just an introduction though. I came across Matt Walsh's post on this, and he says this much better than I can. I encourage you to read it. Before you make your shopping plans this year, take some time to think about it and make a purposeful plan for your holidays. I hope a lot more people will stay home on Thanksgiving Day and take one whole day to really . . . Just. Be. Thankful.
