We are getting ready to celebrate what is quickly becoming the most understated and possibly overlooked holiday of the year-Thanksgiving. Personally, I love Thanksgiving. In fact, the older I get, the more I love it. I like the idea of setting aside a day to give thanks. I love that it involves spending time with family and friends. There’s very little pressure other than cooking (which I enjoy) and the fact that pie is involved DEFINITELY doesn’t hurt! After all, Thanksgiving is the pie holiday. Halloween has candy. Christmas has cookies. Easter has brunch. But, pie belong to Thanksgiving.
Now, I know I’m not alone in my love of this holiday. Unfortunately, love for this holiday isn’t generally shared by the commercial and media powers that be. After all, Thanksgiving has escaped the blatant commercialism that Halloween and Christmas have been victims of. The grocery and gourmet foods stores do their best to milk some sales out of the holiday. Even the home decor and kitchen stores make a buck or two out the last Thursday of November. But, overall, Thanksgiving has remained mostly untouched by the marketing monster. That may be another reason why I enjoy it so much.
Unfortunately, Thanksgiving has been getting squeezed out more and more every year. All you have to do is visit a big box store or even your local town to see the quick change from Halloween to Christmas with perhaps a small display (if you’re lucky) dedicated to Thanksgiving.
The last few years, I have become more and more annoyed by this holiday snub. Being the person that I am, I have repeatedly voiced my disgust to my family. I have to say that I am proud to say that my 12 year-old is firmly in my camp. He has even voiced his own annoyance this year without any prompting from me! I’m so proud!
So, in the spirit of the Occupy Wall Street activists, I propose a new movement–Occupy Thanksgiving. The rallying cry could be “Come to Thanksgiving, Sit a spell, Stay a while!” Who’s with me?
Gratefully,
Laura
Laura B Nelson 