My thoughts - exactly!
Actually these are my thoughts, I wrote and posted this here two years ago. This morning as I sit here with the smell of turkey and yeasty bread filling the air and a frost still on the lawn I was bombarded with advertisements trying to make me believe that if I did not jump up from my holiday table and race to the mall all the good stuff would be gone. It reminded me of this piece I had written on anther Thanksgiving, at almost this same exact time.
I am reposting it again, instead of writing another missive, because I do not believe I can express my self any clearer today than I did then.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
In Defense of Thanksgiving. Nov. 26th, 2009 at 7:58 AM
I love Thanksgiving. I don't mean I love the food, or the football, or the parade. I love Thanksgiving itself. This is the most democratic of holidays. It requires nothing special. You do not have to belong to any special sect, creed, or culture. You can be rich or poor, black, white, red, yellow, green, or screaming magenta, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you take some time to acknowledge that there are things in your life for which you are grateful.
I love the preparations for Thanksgiving, most years Joe and I host the big dinner and I enjoy all the hard work. The thing I am most grateful for is my family both biological and chosen. I make sure that the house is set for Thanksgiving. Fall flowers, pumpkins and gourds, a harvest table set with the fall china etc.
Notice the lack of a Christmas tree? No mention of Christmas lights or wreaths or poinsettias either. I get really disturbed by the growing trend to gloss over Thanksgiving to make Christmas even bigger. Gone are the tacky cornucopias filled with plastic fruit and instead, many have tacky snow villages on the mantle while we carve the turkey by the light of the 8 ft, prelit, artificial Christmas Tree. Folks are rushing through dinner to get to the early, early, early bird specials at stores that have the balls to open on Thanksgiving.
This is one holiday that is not about consumer consumption. You can celebrate Thanksgiving with canned ravioli and Wonderbread if that is all you have, want, or need. You don't give presents, or have insane amounts of holiday trappings, so it seems that the corporate retail giants have decided to pretend it doesn't exist. Stores are opening and running big sales promotions to lure people away from family and friends and into the mall on the day that(almost)the entire country celebrates. This most democratic and most noncommercial holiday has been neglected, trivialized and overshadowed by it's grossly bloated sister, Christmas.
I love Christmas/Yule/Solstice/Hanuka more than is apparent here, but I love them in their time and place. Christmas starts on Christmas eve and lasts until January 6th, Epiphany. Aren't 12 days enough for anyone? Does the Christmas behemoth have to swallow simple, quiet, democratic Thanksgiving too? I shall continue to resist the spread of holly and mistletoe into November, I shall not crumble in my defense of this most American of Holidays.
The famous Norman Rockwell painting, showing the family seated around the Thanksgiving table, huge bird on a platter surrounded by all the trimmings is called Freedom from Want, In a country where many of the working poor carry cell phones and have flat screen tv's, Freedom from Want should be enough for the whole country to celebrate this day on it's own, not co-opted into a another day of Christmas.
This year I am thankful for my loving and handsome husband, our families and our many friends - most of whom are far better than we deserve. I am thankful that our pantry is full, our house is warm and we are also free from want. I wish you all great health, happiness and freedom from want this Thanksgiving day. May your home be filled with laughter and warmth the whole year through. Peace.
I am reposting it again, instead of writing another missive, because I do not believe I can express my self any clearer today than I did then.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
In Defense of Thanksgiving. Nov. 26th, 2009 at 7:58 AM
I love Thanksgiving. I don't mean I love the food, or the football, or the parade. I love Thanksgiving itself. This is the most democratic of holidays. It requires nothing special. You do not have to belong to any special sect, creed, or culture. You can be rich or poor, black, white, red, yellow, green, or screaming magenta, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you take some time to acknowledge that there are things in your life for which you are grateful.
I love the preparations for Thanksgiving, most years Joe and I host the big dinner and I enjoy all the hard work. The thing I am most grateful for is my family both biological and chosen. I make sure that the house is set for Thanksgiving. Fall flowers, pumpkins and gourds, a harvest table set with the fall china etc.
Notice the lack of a Christmas tree? No mention of Christmas lights or wreaths or poinsettias either. I get really disturbed by the growing trend to gloss over Thanksgiving to make Christmas even bigger. Gone are the tacky cornucopias filled with plastic fruit and instead, many have tacky snow villages on the mantle while we carve the turkey by the light of the 8 ft, prelit, artificial Christmas Tree. Folks are rushing through dinner to get to the early, early, early bird specials at stores that have the balls to open on Thanksgiving.
This is one holiday that is not about consumer consumption. You can celebrate Thanksgiving with canned ravioli and Wonderbread if that is all you have, want, or need. You don't give presents, or have insane amounts of holiday trappings, so it seems that the corporate retail giants have decided to pretend it doesn't exist. Stores are opening and running big sales promotions to lure people away from family and friends and into the mall on the day that(almost)the entire country celebrates. This most democratic and most noncommercial holiday has been neglected, trivialized and overshadowed by it's grossly bloated sister, Christmas.
I love Christmas/Yule/Solstice/Hanuka more than is apparent here, but I love them in their time and place. Christmas starts on Christmas eve and lasts until January 6th, Epiphany. Aren't 12 days enough for anyone? Does the Christmas behemoth have to swallow simple, quiet, democratic Thanksgiving too? I shall continue to resist the spread of holly and mistletoe into November, I shall not crumble in my defense of this most American of Holidays.
The famous Norman Rockwell painting, showing the family seated around the Thanksgiving table, huge bird on a platter surrounded by all the trimmings is called Freedom from Want, In a country where many of the working poor carry cell phones and have flat screen tv's, Freedom from Want should be enough for the whole country to celebrate this day on it's own, not co-opted into a another day of Christmas.
This year I am thankful for my loving and handsome husband, our families and our many friends - most of whom are far better than we deserve. I am thankful that our pantry is full, our house is warm and we are also free from want. I wish you all great health, happiness and freedom from want this Thanksgiving day. May your home be filled with laughter and warmth the whole year through. Peace.