Ahh, Christmas. There’s nothing like it. It’s the season of cheer, peppermints, mistletoe and an ungodly amount of sweets. Who doesn’t love the music, Christmas trees, stockings and roasting chestnuts on an open fire? Granted, I’ve never done that last one, but it seems to be a fairly popular tradition. The Christmas spirit is running rampant through Starkville, with stores already whipping out their Christmas wares, while houses are nailing wreaths on front doors. Truly, this is a lovely spectacle of people really getting into the swing of the holidays!
Except for one problem: It’s November.
What on earth are we doing? Is Christmas so exciting we feel the need to bypass our November holiday? Thanksgiving, people! Remember? It, too, is a holiday, with a break that — while not as long as Christmas — is still fairly substantial. So considering we get a whole week off for Thanksgiving and it is truly an American holiday (they aren’t celebrating with turkey in England), why do we jump from witches and ghouls to Santa and sleighs? Don’t tell me Squanto and the pilgrims don’t deserve a spot in the middle. I mean, these settlers survived a horrible winter for us. The least we could do is show their holiday some respect.
Too often it seems as if November is treated as the middle child of the holiday months. October rolls around and everyone gets all excited for Halloween, and then as soon as that ends people put away the lawn gravestones and whip out the Christmas wreaths and flickering lights. Most people don’t even give a second thought to Thanksgiving. Underappreciated, this festival is often overlooked in favor of Christmas. Instead of being a stand-alone holiday, the time of Thanksgiving is used as a transitional period from Halloween to Christmas. Depressing, no?
It’s a shame, really, because this little harvest festival is a great holiday. It took me awhile to appreciate it, but Thanksgiving is, in some ways, better than Christmas. Blasphemous thinking, I know, but hear me out:
Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday. First off, there are absolutely no presents involved. This means no one has to cough up any dough to give that super distant relative (we’re talking third cousin, twice removed) a $5 Starbucks gift card. Also, there are none of those awkward moments during Christmas break where that kid you talk to occasionally in biology gives you a present, forcing you to say something lame such as, “Oh my gosh, I’ll give you your present tomorrow! I haven’t wrapped it yet!” This is a blatant lie. Both parties know no such present exists and you are going to either a) never give that person a present, or b) run out and purchase the first thing you see in Wal-Mart. I’m sure a Chia Pet is exactly what he or she wanted.
Secondly, Thanksgiving is truly the most relaxing of the holidays. Think about it: the whole day revolves around consuming colossal portions of casserole and stuffing, before moving on to eating not one, not two but three full pieces of pecan pie. After that it’s either family bonding time or family nap time. Either way, there is not a whole lot of activity required, unless you are cooking, in which case, have fun deep-frying that turkey for six hours. The rest of us will be inside shoveling down spoonfuls of cranberry sauce.
Thanksgiving is a time to be, well, thankful. It’s easy to lose sight of what the day is really meant for, especially since most people see it as just that random holiday before Christmas. But in reality, it’s a time to reflect on life and concentrate on the people around you, those that care for you. That and eat an entire plate of Aunt Marge’s green bean casserole.
I mean, let’s not get too sentimental here.
 Claire Mosley is a freshman majoring in pre-accounting. She can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.