With fall in full swing and winter quickly approaching, everyone is looking for the nearest holiday to distract us from the cold and onslaught of schoolwork coming our way. But with Halloween only been a few days past, stores and the media are already building the Christmas hype. I’ve already seen Christmas decorations and sale promotions littering the streets, and even heard a few Christmas carols coming from some stores. It’s only the beginning of November and people are already preparing for “the most wonderful time of the year”.

As the Christmas season slowly creeps up earlier on the calendar each year, all I have to say is this- when does Thanksgiving get to have its time to shine?

Don’t get me wrong- I love Christmas and the Christmas spirit. I would call it one of my favorite holidays. But I don’t want to be feeling that Christmas spirit a whole two months before the actual holiday. And it’s not the Christmas spirit that’s stealing away November- it’s the planning and spending for extravagant events and opulent gifts. Thanksgiving has lost its brilliance in the glaring flashing lights showcasing the idea of Christmas that stores have us literally buying into. In a few years, Christmas may even make moves on October. I can already hear chestnuts roasting on an open fire and sleigh bells ringing amid the knocking of trick or treaters Halloween night. And don’t even get me started on the audacity of Christmas in July.

By my view, each holiday has its respective season this time of year- Halloween dominates October, Valentines February, and Christmas December (obviously). November is Thanksgiving’s territory, its home turf, and Christmas has completely stolen that time. Thanksgiving is not some minor holiday to toss by the wayside. Thanksgiving is meant to celebrate the settlement of this nation- how when, in desperate times of need, starving pilgrims were fed by an unknown native people, all sharing in the bounty and giving thanks for the food and friendships found there. Thanksgiving is a gathering to remember what we have to be grateful for and to unite friends and family under one roof to share in eating together. Thanksgiving shows how we can still be united in this country by our gratefulness towards one another regardless of our beliefs and background. And we’ve killed it by allowing our consumerist natures to get the best of us, making the spending part of the Christmas season rage out of control and invade the rest of the calendar.

Is it because of the mass media emphasizing the need to plan and spend ahead of time that Christmas has become this way? Have we become more obsessed with the idea of giving and receiving rather than taking a moment to appreciate what we already have? Has the gift giving part of Christmas been taking away from the deeper significance of Thanksgiving, and ironically, Christmas itself? Is Thanksgiving on the decline because of the sudden health craze that’s sweeping the nation where suddenly eating meat is considered strictly forbidden and tofu turkeys just don’t have the same holiday feel? Are we willing, in the name of the Christmas spirit, to sacrifice the symbolism behind the once beloved Thanksgiving meal of roasted turkey and steaming mashed potatoes and buttery rolls and pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream?

Just food for thought.