Have you heard about the annual blog club regarding Thanksgiving?
Suldog started something a few years ago. See his recent post here.
Did you already read it? What do you think ?
I have to tell you that I agree with his gripe about the retailers pushing Christmas earlier and earlier each year.
I am not a retailer, and if I had to feed my family (wheat free, of course) and pay mortgage and tuitions and buy shoes for all the rug rats, I would want people buying Christmas presents up the ying yang. But I would not begin before Thanksgiving.
There is enough rush, and push, and stress, and angst to go around. Lets give enough of it to each separate holiday in the order in which we celebrate them.
Like right now: Halloween. I personally do not like Halloween. But will there be a bowl of sugar, er candy, to pass out to the little sweeties who knock on the door on Halloween night. You betcha. Halloween decorations on the front porch. That is enough celebration for that holiday.
Veterans Day in our little town gets a lot of hype. Good hype. There is a pretty nice parade at 2:00 that begins in front of the veterans memorial on Main Street. I put up some pictures of the veterans memorial on one of my Sunday In My City posts here in case you missed that one. The memorial is pretty nice in this town and veterans are treated to occasional free dinners and other recognition. Just some of the perks of living in a small town of under 1100 people.
Thanksgiving is almost two weeks after Veterans Day. Christmas isn't for another month after Thanksgiving. Mr/Ms Retail Shopkeeper, if that month does not give you enough time to decorate your cute little trees and mark items up for the "sales", you suck. I am an old lady and I could do it in a day with one hand tied behind my back. So cut us some slack.
For lots and lots of Americans, Thanksgiving is a holiday we look forward to all year long. Yes, I love Christmas. But Thanksgiving is special. The memories of being a kid out in the country and killing our own turkey (not me personally, mind you, but I did get the turkey feathers to make an Indian headdress). Families got together even though they didn't even like each other. And we ate all day. And played games. And napped. Then ate some more. Of course my childhood was before the guys started watching football instead of participating with the rest of the family, and only stopped watching football long enough to eat the big turkey meal and say "great, this is so good" and hike back to the TV room. But hey, that is still tradition. Still sacred.
So I am joining the hundreds, er twenty or so, bloggers who are showing solidarity and yelling out our windows about the commercialism of Christmas and pushing Christmas to the public before even Halloween: I am mad as hell, and I am not going to take it anymore. (So maybe I did borrow that line from the movie "Network"). Works for me.
23 comments:
I can't allow myself to even think about Christmas. Can't believe it's right around the corner... AGAIN! Yikes and bah humbug.
We have already had our Thanksgiving in Canada, Yours is such a huge holiday, I don't blame you for wanting that before Christmas. I still try to make my gifts at Christmas but we don't go all out and get into debt for it that is for sure. Thank you for your lovely card, it was very thoughtful...you asked about the lace...do what ever you want with the stuff. I use some of it in rows too. hugs.
54 shopping days left....or something like that...ugh...santa has been at the mall for a week already...at least his house has...craziness...i am with you on this...
I have mixed feelings about this - I hate seeing Christmas stuff appearing in the shops really early, but at the same time, when you get paid on a monthly basis you soon find that you need to start working on it early if you aren't going to run into a cash flow problem and end up racking up a credit card!
Hmmm...
We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK so the next holiday is Christmas.
But I agree, the madness starts earlier and earlier each year.
I just went and read Suldog's post. I'm in, too. I'll post one and thank you so much for alerting me to this nascent movement. It's a worthy one.
We don't "do" Christmas and try to stay out of malls entirely. The two of us spend the day together doing something we love, usually going for a long walk near the water or, if it's raining, spending time together (gasp!). Marking the day without presents or decorations.
It seems like the grocery stores are the only ones that even take notice of Thanksgiving with their stacks of cans of pumpkin pie mix and cranberry sauce, etc. Other stores start pusing Christmas earlier and earlier each year. Who want to look at Christmas decorations in October?
Thank You! I'm so glad to see that you've joined in, and this is a really nice piece! Well done!
By the way, as an aside to those with some misgivings: The idea isn't to stifle anyone's individual efforts at planning ahead. I just don't wish to see commercial enterprises bleed Christmas or Thanksgiving dry. If someone wants to shop for Christmas in April, that's their business. It won't bother anyone else. What IS bothersome is being pelted with advertisements and music and guilt in October.
Great post and I agree with you! I have seen Christmas stuff in stores before Halloween for petes sakes. Its just wrong, wrong, wrong! Even Staples which sells office supplies and equipment had Christmas candy and candles in their store last week! Does anyone even remember what Christmas is really all about?
I start with Christmas shopping before, but I don't put anything up until after Thanksgiving.
Good morning Techno, Hope you had a fun Halloween-- I'm guessing your town gets into the spirit and I hope lots to little kids stopped by your sweet house. I actually enjoy Halloween and was very disappointed that we only got about 20 kids this year :-( The city park by our house cancelled their annual Halloween party that used to bring lots of trick or treaters but not this year. So I sent a huge bag of left over candies to hubby's office so I wouldn't be tempted to eat it.
As for Christmas-- You know how I feel about that as I participated in "Thanksgiving Comes First" as well. I shook my head watching "The Today Show" this morning as it seems the flood gates of Christmas commercials really broke loose-- the day after Halloween-- and still far too early in my book.
You reminded me that "back in the day" the guys weren't glued to the tv an football. I'd forgotten how nice that was.
High five to Thanksgiving. xoxox jj
By the time Christmas rolls around, they've got nothing left for us to buy, except summer clothes for next year! Aggravating to be sure!
I don't put up holiday decorations for anything but Christmas. And that I start working on the first day of Advent, December 1st.
Yeah, they're always putting the squeeze on T-Day when we could be ramping up to that and enjoying the "thanks" and family time a whole lot more.
Being from the East Coast, Christmas all ready seems odd and foreign in California. On top of that, I was in my local Home Depot about a month ago, and they all ready had out their Christmas lawn ornaments! This commercialization so far in advance really puts my off. I'm not against anyone making a buck, but really...
Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday. It is about family and laughter and love and being together without having to buy or do or be anything other than myself. I cannot emphasize how much I adore Thanksgiving and the sense of gratitude it imparts.
I love Christmas, too, but everything has it's place, right? And Christmas belongs in December. I buy Christmas gifts throughout the year as I come across something perfect, but the decorations don't come out until we come back from our Thanksgiving trip.
haha....
Not an American.... not sure about the Halloween thingy...
Christmas, yes i am in but not quite yet.
Love to be back here at your blog!
Big hugs
Leontien
It's a perpetual gripe. Everyone's against it, yet still it gets earlier each year. What happened to the customer always being right?
Schooch over a bit and let me on that soapbox with ya'll!!!
I don't even want to think about Christmas until the Thanksgivin' leftovers are cleaned up.
...and I'm a girl who lives for Christmas!!! Just sayin'...
God bless ya and have an extraordinary day sweetie!!!
It's cool to see Suldog's message spreading through so many bloggers that I know. Each poster has their own take and memories. Nicely done, TB.
What you said! Well done:)
T-Babe:
I just now realized that I hadn't included a link to your piece in my posting for today. That has been rectified.
(Very polite of you to not complain, but instead leave a nice comment. Thank you!)
I agree. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. And Christmas is not something that I can deal with right now.
Post a Comment