Sunday, October 31, 2010

Thanksgiving Comes First

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween.  After nine years living in a neighborhood where we literally had over 1000 trick or treaters every year it's strange to live where we usually only get the neighbor girl knocking on the door.  Last night we actually tripled that and had THREE sets of kids come looking for candy.  Now I'm ready to move on and consider Thanksgiving.

Last Monday, on October 25th, a particular coworker felt the need to announce to every patient who asked what date it was that it was two months until Christmas.  This information was not imparted in a matter of fact way or even in a wry manner.  Instead, said coworker hopped around like a preschooler who had eaten a bowl of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs drenched in Red Bull instead of milk.  The first couple of times I thought she was putting it on, that it was a joke.  When she repeated the manic scene a dozen or so times it became annoying.  By late afternoon I was ready to bludgeon her since gentler suggestions of all holidays in their proper time had no effect.  In an attempt to be fair I wanted to warn her of her impending doom should she keep up the crazed elf routine.  I erupted in the following tirade:

It is not even October 31st yet.  That means we haven't even seen Halloween come and go, much less Thanksgiving.  Let me be clear. This week you are allowed to dance gleefully around the office in anticipation of trick or treating and eating yourself sick on all the Halloween loot you can stuff in a pillow case.  AFTER that you may become excited about Thanksgiving, which is the one holiday of the year that has very few commercial overtones since one is expected to gratefully reflect upon the blessings one already has enjoyed rather than getting hopped up on the season of gimme, gimme, gimme.  It's the the antithesis of what every marketing department works toward.  Not until the day after Thanksgiving will I even consider tolerating excitement about Christmas.  If you persist in this behavior I shall be forced to beat you senseless and truss you like a turkey, refusing to release you until you've learned your lesson.  She skulked away calling me a grinch.

Make no mistake, I like Christmas.  But I fell about Christmas the way I feel about snow.  It's a beautiful thing in its proper season.  In October it's just irritating, annoying and makes me angry.  Truthfully, I like Thanksgiving more than I like Christmas because, as mentioned in my tirade, it's naturally a time for reflection on our blessings and cultivating gratitude for them.  I don't like being hustled past something that meaningful and into the crass commercialism Madison Avenue has morphed Christmas into.  Though I will admit my delivery was somewhat Grinch-like.

So today, the 1st of November, in response to Suldog's request I am doing my part to stave off an early Christmas, which obscures the beauty of giving thanks.  If you're interested, here's the story of one of my favorite thanksgiving celebrations.



19 comments:

G-Man said...

I Agree Trini...
Thanksgiving is my Favorite Holiday! It knows No religious boundaries.
Plus the food.......Mmmmmmmmmm

G-Man said...

Plus the Yahtzee's...Mmmmmmmmmm

Craig said...

Well, you know, hear, hear!

The thing is, I really do love Christmas, and I am given to contemplate the Incarnation and all its implications for my, or anyone else's, life. God With Us, and all that. Truly Awesome.

But, you know, less and less is that even in the background of what anyone is thinking about when they think of 'Christmas'. And it is a deeply tragic loss to our culture that 'Christmas' has come to be associated with the end-of-year consumerist feeding-frenzy. . .

(*sigh*)

But really - violently throttling and trussing up your co-worker seems kinda, I dunno, not quite right somehow. . .

;)

Cricket said...

Yep. Well said.

And I bet you know the proper alternative Thanksgiving meal is not tofurkey, but toast, popcorn, pretzels, chips, and jelly beans.

Although one of these days I'm going to have to try a turducken.

Dave said...

I'm sure this doesn't apply to you Michelle, but a lady I worked with once said to me one day when I was feeling moody, "Are you happy in your misery?" That got me out of it quick smart! - Dave

Bijoux said...

I know! It's so annoying to see Christmas trees at Kohl's in September. What is wrong with America??

Mona said...

Its the festival season everywhere. :)

Bubba said...

AMEN!

Retailers (and everyone else who buys into their premature pushing of holidays) need to quite cheapening our holidays by artificially extending them for profit. Holidays are like a dollop of sweet jam - you can only spread them out so far before they get too thin for anyone to enjoy.

I'd make it a law that retailers cannot display or advertise anything Christmas related before Thanksgiving. (I saw Christmas stuff in the stores back in JULY!)

Suldog said...

Thank you, Lime. If it were possible to love you more than I already do, I would!

Kat said...

Perfectly and hilariously said! And now I have to think more carefully about what I say in my post on the matter because I was going to say some of the same things you have said (though not as artfully I'm sure). Thanksgiving is definintely a favorite of mine. Being with family, just enjoying each other. Love it. :)
Great job, Lime!

S said...

I have trained LR to look the other way when we see Xmas decorations and crap in the store in mid October. We dont even talk about it until after my birthday which is after Thanksgiving.

We do NOT allow our holidays to blur into one big commercial mess! Hurray!
Good on you for telling that gal to chill out!

~Tim said...

I love your Trini T-day story.

Mother Theresa said...

No Thanksgiving here, so the Christmas decorations are already in the stores...ugh!. There's been no problem with adopting Halloween over here, so I think they should add Thanksgiving too...that way we wouldn't have to think about Christmas so soon. I like it, but I agree with you, it is just too soon.

Hilary said...

It's always a pleasure to read your posts and fun to see so many of the offshoot post from Suldog's campaign.

I absolutely love your story about Thanksgiving in Trinidad. That's "forsho" <--- the word verification. ;)

Anonymous said...

maybe you shouldn't read my post today...

Moosekahl said...

Had to stop at the grocery store today and they have already transitioned to christmas candy and wintery treats. I am planning my Thanksgiving orphan dinner. THEN I will decorate. Once all those dishes are done.

KFarmer said...

Yeah, I would say about a month ago, the stores were already stocking X-Mas stuff. It turns my stomach. I love Thanksgiving for the same reasons~

secret agent woman said...

December 1st - that's my cut off for when Christmas-related activities may start.

(M)ary said...

If I avoid the Christmas spirit until 2 weeks before, I usually enjoy myself more! Starting early means burning out early.