Thursday, November 8, 2012

THANKSGIVING COMES FIRST

(http://www.best-norman-rockwell-art.com)


This one is for Suldog who believes... and I do agree...
that the commercialization of the holidays are ruining them
by jamming them all too close together.
Each year he invites bloggers to put in their two cents worth as well
on the subject... this is my contribution.

=:]

My mom was big on decorating for holidays.
We had lots of the tissue paper things that had hard cardboard attached that you could open like fans and fasten
to make pumpkins, hearts, angels, trees, etc. according to the holiday.
Not to mention 5 children's worth of pine cone turkeys, paper machet or clay creations.
Boxes and boxes of the stuff crowded the mysterious closet under our stairs that changed in size
like the room at a fun house.

That was part of the fun of any holiday for all of us
and my mother's time to shine in her own creative way.
Decorating was the way we were all drawn into the fun and it set us up for anticipation of the event.

All of the holidays, were distinctly different in decoration.
Halloween was silly scary fun stuff.
Thanksgiving was more serious. 
Pilgrims, their big buckle shoes and hats, cornucopias, Indian corn ears and gourds that were not carved.
We never mixed the holidays together. 
Halloween came down on November 1st.
Thanksgiving would show up a few days after, but not immediately.

This year, working in the store... the holidays are all mixed up together.
There are Halloween things on mark down mixed in with a much smaller selection of Thanksgiving items and a big selection of Christmas items.
Thanksgiving seems to be shrinking in size each year.

I have my suspicions about that.
I think its greed.
Or perhaps I should say the absence of greed in the holiday itself.
Thanksgiving is  not about "getting something".
Its about being thankful for what you do have, be it grand or not...
because you've been granted another year and made it thus far...
and for being among the people living and those 
remembered  friends and family who sit at the table with us in spirit.

You can spend a fortune on Thanksgiving foods and the odd trinket.
But you can also manage to fix a great meal without going broke too.
It is a holiday that does not fall apart if you don't have much money.
An every-man's holiday.

It doesn't make the money that more "greed driven" holidays do.
Retail has scaled down the importance of Thanksgiving.
Turning their sights on more money as quickly as they can...
beginning at midnight on Thanksgiving...
not wanting to wait a single minute after the clock strikes twelve 
to start dragging in the dough...
while Tom Turkey still digests in our tummies.
Black Friday!  Black indeed!

My mother had it right.  There needs to be a break between them.
A few days that you don't have to dust around the decorations. 
A few days to mull over the delight of what just passed and
take stock of the normal day around you.
When you run them all together that reflection gets lost.

We have no one to blame but ourselves.
As long as we rush out to take advantage of those deals on Black Friday at 2:00 A.M.
or buy to excess on credit, things that we cannot truly afford...
as long as we set aside the meaning behind the holidays
and engage in the greed...
we deserve what we lose in the process.

I can't refuse to work Black Friday or I would lose my  job, which I need.
But I can refuse to participate with my pocket book...
and by savoring my Thanksgiving blessings until November turns to December...
and keep the true meaning of the holiday at my table.

11 comments:

  1. Thank you, love! I've given you a link on the FB page, and you'll also have one in the next follow-up post at my place!

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  2. Amen. So glad to see you back. I've been wondering. Love and best wishes to you and yours as always, my dear.

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  3. well said. sorry you will have to be in the midst of the madness on the craziest shopping day of the year.

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  4. I heard on the news today that WalMart has just announced that it will do "Black Thursday," starting their after Thanksgiving Day sale at 8pm ON THANKSGIVING DAY! My head nearly imploded. I thought the insanity of Black Friday was wrong enough, but this is worse. I don't do Christmas-y things until December, and even then it's not about the shopping.

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  5. I just went to look it up - turns out there are other store hopping on the mega-greed bandwagon:

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  6. They roll out the holiday stuff earlier and earlier every year. We are in such a big hurry to get to the next big thing that we don't take the time to enjoy the present. Hope all is well in your world, and you are not working too hard. Your Ducks are looking good so far. Have a nice weekend.

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  7. At the moment, I just want to eat the turkey dinner and move on, but we'll be doing that with two of my brothers who I haven't seen in a long time.

    Our holidays were defined by rituals and traditions. I wish I could embrace the same excitement for Christmas as I did when I was a kid. On Christmas Eve we'd all go to the nearby church for Christmas Eve service. It seemed to take forever when I was a kid, but I always liked it when we'd all light candles while singing "Silent Night". Part of me was happy about the service, the other part was happy that we were heading back home to open gifts. Whenever I smell pine, I think of that tradition.

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  8. Halloween is probably my favorite holiday, but Thanksgiving is so lovely! We should all fully appreciate it. Christmas has evolved into a holiday that I get rather stressed about. Maybe partly because I put off thinking about it for as long as possible!

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  9. Yeah, Thanksgiving is kind of "retro" as far as commercializing goes. The grocery stores, tending to the small local ones, do try like hell to sell turkeys and the trimmings, but that low-key compared to the other holidays.

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  10. Your post is spot on about the commercialization of holidays. It's a shame so many people just go along with the greedy spectacle year after year.

    I've never once participated in a Black Friday sale and now they're planning Black Thursday! Goodness. I'd never participate in that either. After Thanksgiving dinner, I'm being rolled around the house because I'm too full to walk ;-)

    Work is work and I know from experience that you do what you have to do because you must to keep your job. Your head is in the right place when you say you and your pocketbook will not participate. Neither will me or mine.

    Our holiday will be a happy one since our baby girl is coming home from university 4 days earlier than we had planned when we made the airline reservations 2 months ago. Her classes and crew practices fell away and freed up her schedule and we're all very excited.

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  11. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.

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