Thanksgiving or Christmas?

As we approach Thanksgiving, some might get the impression that we have skipped that holiday and have moved right on to Christmas. Advertisements and stores have skipped over any sort of Thanksgiving themed ads and have already started marketing their low prices for gifts that you will need more than a month from now. It seems as if every year the seasons go from Halloween, a commercially powered holiday, straight to Christmas, the most commercialized holiday on the calendar. Every year I am disappointed that turkey day gets no love on the television and every year I am left wondering: why doesn't Thanksgiving get any airtime.

To answer my own question, the reason that Christmas is marketed in late October and early November is because businesses have become aware that people shop for gifts during the offseason when the prices are still low. Because Christmas has turned into buying and receiving gifts rather than its original religious origins, it is important for stores to gain a large increase in sales around the holiday. Christmas is historically the most profitable time for many retail stores and because of this they need to demonstrate their value to prospective consumers before any other stores can persuade them. The reason Thanksgiving is not nearly as celebrated or advertised by companies is because there really is no way for stores to profit. The only people that may make a profit because of Thanksgiving are grocery stores and kitchen ware sellers. Other than those two sellers, there really is no other markets for Thanksgiving. If it was custom to give gifts on Thanksgiving, we would start seeing Thanksgiving advertisements in July.

All of this being said, I still like to argue that my favorite holiday of them all is Thanksgiving. It just does not get more simple or more American than gathering with family, eating a large dinner in the early afternoon, then sleeping all day while there is football on the television. Thanksgiving to me represents the American dream. Family, food, football is all you really need in life. Not that I have any grudges against Christmas, it really is a great holiday, its just that there is too much hustle and bustle around the holiday to actually relax. Of course everyone likes receiving gifts, but there is always that awkward time when you receive a gift that you do not really like and have to blatantly and awkwardly try to muster up any fake feelings of joy you can. Receiving a bad gift is equivalent to giving someone a pity laugh after a bad joke. Everyone knows the sentiment is fake and everyone feels awkward that they had to witness such a fake moment. Nevertheless, people still seem to love Christmas.

Maybe it says something about me that my favorite Christmas themed movie is "The Grinch". Not the old, cartoon version, but the new version which stars Jim Carrey and the girl who kinda looks like Taylor Swift. The Grinch has it right though, people put way too much stock into gifts and material possessions instead of gathering with family, which is what holidays should be about. All I'm saying is Thanksgiving is the best holiday because it is the most simple.