Honeywell: Let's hear it for Thanksgiving
By STEVE HONEYWELL
When do “the holidays” officially begin? Do they start the moment trick-or-treating stops? It increasingly seems that way as, a week or so into November, more and more of the airwaves are taken up with Christmas messages.
Christmas? Now? Sadly, yes. It’s almost as if Thanksgiving doesn’t exist anymore except as a stores-are-closed speed bump on the way to Dec. 25. I like Thanksgiving a lot more than I like Christmas. Beyond the meal, there’s a lot less pressure on Thanksgiving. And even the meal isn’t that much pressure. Cook for one day, eat leftovers for a week. Essentially, for me at least, it’s a week out of the kitchen after a really intense day of cooking.
So, I’m taking Thanksgiving back. It’s a holiday I really look forward to every year, and I’m tired of the way it has been marginalized by the holiday that follows it. It has been marginalized. It feels necessary to say that the holiday after Thanksgiving isn’t Black Friday.
To that end, I’m taking a stand to bring back the holiday I enjoy. I’ve decided that this year, I will do no Christmas shopping at any store, outlet, or merchant who is running Christmas ads now. Any rewritten Christmas songs, a sprig of holly or mistletoe, or a sighting of a fat man in a red suit means I’m avoiding that store through the end of the year.
Every year, I hear people complain about Christmas encroaching earlier and earlier, and more and more pressure being put on us, the consumers, to shop more and buy more. The only way I can think of to fight back against this is with my wallet and my feet.
I have nothing against Christmas. It should be a highlight of the year, something to look forward to and something to enjoy. When it arrives earlier every year, though, by the time the day finally gets here, I’m just waiting for it to be over. Like an overhyped movie, the day can’t live up to its billing, and, ultimately, it is disappointing.
The fact that I’m already thinking about it bothers me. I don’t want visions of sugarplums until after I’ve cooked and eaten the turkey and had to deal with the nasty can of jellied cranberry stuff that everyone but one of my sisters and I seem to enjoy. It means that once again, I’ll have holiday burnout by the second week of December. It’s impossible to maintain that level of enthusiasm for that long without wearing down.
It easily could be argued that by doing this, I’m trying not only to preserve Thanksgiving, but also to save Christmas, at least for myself. If I can avoid as much of the hype and hoopla as I can for as long as I can, maybe this year I’ll have a chance to keep the inner Scrooge at bay.
So let’s hear it for turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, at least for another two weeks. There’s still plenty of time for tinsel and mistletoe.
• Steve Honeywell is a father and sometime stay-at-home dad. He teaches English composition at Kishwaukee College and is a freelance writer and proofreader.
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