Thanksgiving week is the best week of the year. Not because of Black Friday. Not because of the short work week. Not because of the long weekend. But because of Thanksgiving Day itself. That’s right–Thanksgiving rocks.
Truth No. 1: It’s people oriented.
Thanksgiving is a day to spend indoors (or outdoors) with friends and family. You get to see friends you don’t often see and mingle with family–even the ones you don’t normally get along with. On Thanksgiving day, you get to put aside your differences to celebrate the bonds you share. Plus, it means you don’t have to work or worry about stress all day.
Truth No. 2: It’s quiet day.
Streets are empty. Stores are closed. Parks are silent. Everyone is with family and friends, watching TV, drinking, eating, talking, playing board games and making merry. Outside, the neighborhoods are silent and the world is at peace with itself. It’s the least chaotic day of the year.
Truth No. 3: It’s all about food.
Hors d’oeuvres all afternoon: dips, chips, crackers, cheeses, tiny meatballs on toothpicks, chocolates, nuts and more, followed by platters of turkey and ham, steins of gravy, bowls of stuffing, plates of candied yams and Auntie Mim’s famous upside-down canned fruit jello ring. The food high kicks in sometime during dinner and lasts well into the night. And then there are the leftovers, which last for an entire week and make you so fat you breathe a sigh of relief when they finally run out.
This all creates appreciation; not just for the holiday, but appreciation for the things we don’t get any other day.
Some people believe that Christmas is the superior holiday, because they get lots of loot and make out like bandits. But they are wrong. While Christmas is ostensibly about the birth of Jesus, it is unarguably gift centric. And the weeks and weeks of present-buying stress that precede Christmas turn the entire event into a exhaustion fest: a fiasco. The loot is not worth it. Thanksgiving doesn’t have presents, or the present related stress. Plus, Christmas is followed by the January Blues and wedged right before New Years.
What we really need are four Thanksgivings a year–one every three months, for everyone’s good health. The other holidays should be retired. The world is changing, and America needs to get with the times. Why enjoy Thanksgiving once a year when we can celebrate year-round?
