Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Poor Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving really gets the shaft. Tonight, the local news is airing a Christmas-tree lighting. Snowflake labels and snowmen are on everything. Technically, that's not Christmas-related, but everyone knows the natural objects associated with Thanksgiving are leaves and pumpkins. The pumpkin spice lattes are off the board in early November to make room for the ginger and eggnog lattes. (Side note: Starbuck's new gingersnap latte is NOT the same as the old gingerbread latte. And it is definitely not as good.) Those lattes are served in the Christmas red cups.

It's not fair. Thanksgiving rocks. It is easily my favorite holiday. It's got fall, football, pumpkin pie, and that greatest of all foods, dressing. More than that, I love what it stands for. Maybe it's a bit idealized to think of newcomers to this continent and native Americans dining together in thanks of their mutual survival, but it sure makes for a nice story. It's a holiday that fully includes all Americans, regardless of religion, ethnicity, or anything else that can be used as a divider. It's all about unity and giving thanks.

But every year the stores and the news and the t.v. shows rush right past turkey day and go straight for the bigger pay day of Christmas. I refuse to play along. I will not break out any Christmas decorations before this coming weekend. I will not do any Christmas shopping, either. I stick to the pumpkin spice lattes. (Ok, I cracked and have had one or two ginger lattes, but I felt guilty.) I will not bake any Christmas foods or listen to any Christmas music.

This is Thanksgiving season and I intend to honor it. At least until all the left-overs are gone.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

After reading your post, I want to shout, "Amen!" No Christmas advertisements, movies, parades, et cetera should be allowed until Thanksgiving night.

S said...

I would prefer the day after Thanksgiving. There are Thanksgiving-themed movies that could be shown on that day. Perhaps Hollywood would be encouraged to make more if networks started trying to show Thanksgiving movies to honor his greatest of holidays.

Now I'm off to Starbucks for my morning Pumpkin Spice latte!

Carl Folsom said...

My cousin Sonja's Thanksgiving greeting to two cousins she hasn't seen in over 10 years. . . "Did you guys bring dressing?"

Lisa Johnson said...

I agree about Thanksgiving. I wrote a post for a blog event called Thanksgiving Comes First, that you might be interested in. I tried to put in an html link, but it didn't work.

Here is a tinyurl if you want to see it. http://tinyurl.com/4fmj6j

Belated Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a good one. ; )

S said...

Ah, Sonja!

I had a lovely Thanksgiving. I hope all my dear readers did, too.

Unknown said...

I thought that "Gingerbread" latte wasn't as good this year. Man, my favorite thing about the season is ruined. ;-)

S said...

Erin, I think we need to let Starbucks know they need to go back to the old gingerbread formula 'cause this new gingersnap thing just isn't as good.

 
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