Thursday, November 20, 2008

Writers Workshop Thursday: Holiday Lost

This is under the "something that bothered me this week" category.

I love the holidays in the fall and winter. I love them ALL, meaning not just the traditional ones but the interesting ones like Day of the Dead and Winter Solstice. Celebrating is fun and I think they should all receive their due. This year though I feel like a very important holiday is getting the bum rush from the need for retail stores to sell, sell, sell.

Thanksgiving it seems has been forgotten in many ways or at least that is the impression that I have gotten since about Halloween. I have seen and heard thousands of Christmas commercials but no one seems to excited for Thanksgiving. I got the sneaking suspicion that this was the case way back in late summer when the fall decorations were not selling so well but the minute the Christmas trees went up and the sparkle came out, the ornaments were flying out the door. Forgotten were the cute accent plates, platters and table setting ware for Thanksgiving. The turkey salt and pepper shakers went on sale early along with the the turkey place card holders.

I also began to notice that almost no one (except maybe Williams Sonoma) was really advertising for Thanksgiving. It was already all about Christmas. The decorations were up in stores as well as on homes. I became disturbed, not because I was surprised. I mean ads for Christmas have been coming earlier and earlier every year. I AM upset because it seems like this year, more than ever, we have to be thankful for what we DO have.

Being in the financial industry, actually see how this crisis is hitting people other than me. Many of us have worked so hard to save and to have so much of it seemingly disappear, is extremely difficult. I just think that right now, it is so important for us all to concentrate on what we have, right now with family and friends, not about what want to get for Christmas or how much we can spend on gifts. We need the emotional support of our loved ones, staring us in the face so we can get through the next however long a time it takes to feel better about our situations. So please, if you can, wait on the Christmas decorations and concentrate on giving thanks for what we have this year.

16 comments:

Diane said...

I'm not a big fan of the holidays, for lots of reasons, but I'm with you completely. Christmas starts in October these days (which even bothers my 9-year-old, believe it or not!) and I find it so crass and stressful. We celebrate the Solstice and I look forward to that more than anything!

King of New York Hacks said...

Well said. I am in the financial industry AND drive a yellow taxi in NYC because its that bad. I am way thankful for the important things as my grandmother used to say, "get on your knees and thank the Lord that your on your feet"..nuff said.

Caren said...

Yes, it bothers me too! I've never really been a Thanksgiving fan but it's probably partially due to the fact that it's ignored. I like Christmas a lot but often do wish they waited until after Thanksgiving to start the chaos!

Mama Dawg said...

I, too, hate that Thanksgiving gets overlooked. I don't listen to Christmas music or put up decorations until the first of December. Give Thanksgiving it's due, people.

Becky said...

You are so right! I have noticed the subtle skip of turkey day too. When fall decor came out it was 50% off that day. I was excited but wondered whats the rush.

Thank you for your poignant post and reminding me to be thankful.

P.S. My home is all falled up and the tree won't come until December.

LOL the word verification:
PICANTE

LOL...Ole!

Jen said...

I so agree with you on this post! I could not have said it better myself.

Los said...

Actually, it felt to me like even Halloween was overlooked to an extent ... I remember walking into Home Depot in September, and seeing Christmas stuff all over the place already.

I guess we need more Adam Sandler thanksgiving songs, right?

Tiffany @ Lattes And Life said...

If I might respectfully offer my side of the coin :-) I jump straight from Halloween to Christmas, and LOVE having Christmas stuff up already. I'm not a big Thanksgiving person. I feel giving thanks and blessing should happen every day. Not just one day when we get together and share turkey dinner. I just think that all the "Let's Give Thanks" stuff that comes out around Thanksgiving is so...I don't know...artifical maybe? Kind of like when so many people pop into church on Christmas Eve and avoid it the rest of they year. A date on a calendar shouldn't determine one's heart and attitude....

So with that said, I love the glitter and sparkle of Chirstmas decorations, so the longer I can look at them the better :-)

Snooty Primadona said...

When my kids were in primary school, we paid more homage to Thanksgiving. Since they are grown & we travel to meet up with them it has become a much more enjoyable holiday and we each say what we are thankful for at the table. To me, that is what it's all about. Not what you eat or how many decorations you have. Since we go to Austin for Turkey Day, we celebrate it more in word and deed, hopeful that it lasts all year long.

It has become shamefully more about Christmas and I don't mean the birth of Christ. It makes me want to not even have Christmas, but as always, I will decorate our home to the nines. I just won't be buying anything new this year unless it is one helluva deal.

;-)

J'Ollie Primitives said...

I don't go shopping, thereby avoiding most of the Christmas hype in the stores.
Our family gets really excited about Thanksgiving. It's one of the few times of the year that we can all get together.
Well written post. We all need to remember to be thankful for what we have this year.

Anonymous said...

I agree... I'd like to wait until I'm done with my turkey before starting on the Christmas themes at the stores.

honkeie said...

I personally hate xmass because of the whole idea of being happy and generous one day out of the year. I mean do families only go hungry two time a year during Tday or Xmass?
Generousity seems to come only once a year for so many what about all the other days of the week that end in Y?
I also hate having to look for that perfect gift and never finding it. Every year my wife out does me and I can never match her....why do women have to be so hard to shop for!!!!???

L.R. M-J said...

ah yes the beauty of living abroad-far, far less in-your-face commercialism. This is one of my favourite times in France, and Thanksgiving here has always been a time for all the expats to get together, everyone bringing something different and we have such an awesome time.

As for thanks- not a day goes by in my life that I don't conciously think about how lucky I am-seriously, I never take anything for granted...ok, maybe all the great cheese ;)

As Cape Cod Turns said...

Amen sister!

KatBouska said...

Yeah they DID skip over Thanksgiving this year!!

Halloween is next. Before you know it those people with lights on their house all year long will be dictating everything.

ShelbyAnne said...

I would like to reiterate my experience with the start of the season this year. It went something like this:

I walk into a grocery store on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 and turn a corner to find, where all the Halloween seasonal merch stood just the day before, CHRISTMAS STUFF. And not just a smidge that some uber-eager employee has put out. A full-on Christmas seasonal section. WTF? Weren't there little kiddies running around town at that exact moment inquiring about candy at strangers houses?

When did this happen? When did Thanksgiving get forgotten?

Tragic.