The Ungrateful Demise of Thanksgiving

The Washington Dispatch ^ | November 6, 2003 | Frank Salvato

[The Rant]

A departure from the politics for the moment.

As always, comments on the content, sans the personal attacks and grammatical corrections, are greatly appreciated. Thank you fellow FReepers and Happy Thanksgiving.

[Xenalyte]

I don't forget Thanksgiving . . . after two months of rehearsal and two months of Festival, Thanksgiving Day is my first chance to sleep in after Labor Day.

[truthkeeper]

I feel exactly the same as the author. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday for all of the reasons he outlined.
Thank you for posting this valuable and appropriate commentary. Rest assured I will be e-mailing it to about a zillion people. BTTT

[cspackler]

Agreed. I drive my wife crazy with my refusals to do any Chrstmas-related things until after Thanksgiving. She always wants to run around and plan everything out, I just want to enjoy the season and reflect before I let the craziness sink in. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and strive hard to keep "the meaning of the season" for my family. But I hate it when we just gloss over Thanksgiving. It is an important time.

[Grampa Dave]

We first noticed this about 5 years ago.

We went to our local Target to buy some welcome door mats and other Thanksgiving stuff after Halloween.

There was nothing in the store beside sales on Halloween and Christmas decorations.

The local manager was as frustrated as we were. His previous Thanksgiving sales of Thanksgiving decorations had been excellent.

However the management of Target at that time decided to pencil out Thanksgiving.

Since then it has gotten worse. The managers at the local Walmart have figured out a way to get by this. They stock up heavy on items in their home decoration department that are great for Thanksgiving.

Forget the independents and other chains. They were running Christmas ads and stocking Christmas stuff before October was barely underway.

[old patriot]

And we should not forget that almost every grocery-store, and even some national automotive stores, are going to open on Thanksgiving to help their customers who may have some last minute shopping to do. The only thing thankful in commercial America about Thanksgiving is that they can have another day to sell. And I guess the people who have to work on these days have nothing to be thankful for nor families to celebrate or reflect with.

What happened to the America that even gasoline was not sold on Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year?

a really Old Patriot

[truthkeeper]

Well, you have a kindred spirit here. I especially liked this passage:

I would like to be able to talk to my own Father once again just to tell him that I am bigger than any disagreements we may have had and that I love him for who he was and not what I expected of him. I wish I could tell my Grandmother just one more time that she is precious. To carelessly gloss over one of the most opportune times of the year, a time for reflection and thanksgiving, is to miss one of life’s few golden opportunities to re-invest in ourselves, our friends, our families and humanity.

[dwd1]

Very nice....

[Physicist]

What happened to the America that even gasoline was not sold on Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year?

Now there's an odd thing to be nostalgic about.

[MinuteGal]

If the stores don't carry Thanksgiving trinkets any more, I really don't care as long as my butcher has the Big Bird. I can make all my decorations, centerpieces, table settings or whatever.

If I need some paper turkey pictures anywhere, I'll just hang a pic of Bubba and Hilly on the front door, LOL.

Leni

[old patriot]

When everyone was home with their families, and almost no cars on the road because they were already there, there were almost no gasoline stations open. But with credit card sales for everything, including candy and sodas, the only things still closed on Thanksgiving are houses of worship. Take a look at the lines at the cinemas on this upcoming Thursday and see how many people are not home with their families.

I wax nostalgic for a simpler time when gasoline was the least of our worries, and getting there was not something to contemplate.

Old Patriot

[JmyBryan]

Why Thanksgiving has declined.

Our nation has so much that food seems commonplace. For a dollar it comes cooked out of a window while you wait in your car, not from planting in the spring. Harvest time isn't even a memory in many families.

Christianity is not as culturally common.

Families are smaller.

Cooking a feast is no longer fun for women who work.

It's on Thursday.

[Alberta's Child]

The demise of Thanksgiving probably began in 1939, when FDR moved it from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday of the month -- specifically to increase the length of the Christmas shopping season.

Thanksgiving was always an odd holiday because it seemed to be celebrated at the wrong time of the year. President Lincoln originally intended to set aside a day of thanksgiving on behalf of the nation in the aftermath of the Civil War, but it has morphed into a silly reflection on Pilgrims, the Iroquois Indian named Squanto, etc. There is nothing about a late November holiday that bears any connection to a "thanksgiving" for a good harvest -- most of the crops grown in the U.S. would have been harvested long before then. In that respect, Canada's Thanksgiving Day -- which is celebrated on the second Monday in October (Columbus Day in the U.S.) -- holds more closely to a true day of thanksgiving in an agricultural sense.

[MineralMan]

Well, since Thanksgiving has no commercial life, it's not surprising that retailers shift to Christmas right after Halloween.

That does not, however, mean that Thanksgiving is a forgotten holiday. It will be remembered all over this country by the families that gather together once again to give thanks for the good things they have.

In a sense, Thanksgiving is closer to a pure celebration that Christmans has been for many years now. No big commercialization, no fake hoopla...just families celebrating this wonderful holiday.

I think this writer was way wrong.

[discostu]

Thanksgiving is a cash cow for the grocery stores. It's always been the most overlooked of the big holidays, has the fewest TV specials, the least decorations, and the most private traditions. Within the American pantheon of holidays Thanksgiving has the smallest circle, Halloween is about kids and neighbors, Christmas is about friends and family, Easter is about church, Independance day is about barbeque, Thanksgiving is just family.

It's a private little holiday, quiet in its sincerity, which is just how I like it.

[kidd]

So retailers have forgotten Thanksgiving. So what.

I, for one, am grateful that Thanksgiving is almost completely non-commercial. Retailers can continue to forget Thanksgiving.

Friends, family, food and football. It really hasn't changed at all over the past 40 years or more. It remains quite traditional. Perhaps that's why its my favorite holiday.

[discostu]

Not in Tucson they won't be. In Tucson any item that can't be purchased at a convenience store or Denny's has to wait until Friday. I actually enjoy going for a drive on Thanksgiving afternoon, it's like a post apocalypse movie, all alone in the city.

[stanz]

That's funny because, we are a family of three, not religious and rarely cook because we all have different eating habits and hours. Yet, we look forward to Thanksgiving and we ALL cook. This year, we're having some friends over - - that means three vegans and three omnivores! There will be turkey and something for everybody - - along with the paper turkey centerpiece my daughter made in the 4th grade.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Ref post 3.

My exact thoughts and feelings. Thank you.