[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

[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.

[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

[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.

[Jack of Diamonds]

In 1980, I was a contractor fresh out of the Navy and working in the basement of the Pentagon. There where about seven of us working the midnight shift on Thanksgiving. All of us where about the same age (26), but only one was married, It was going to be a long night.

We decided to have our own celebration before work in the office break room. I volunteered to bake the Turkey. This turned out to be harder than I thought because I forgot the breadcrumbs for the stuffing. I drove all over the Northern Va area looking for a store that was open on Thanksgiving day. I was just about to give up when I found a Chinese grocer that was open where I was able to buy Stovetop Stuffing.

It was hard not being able to find a store open, but I felt good that everyone seemed to be home with their family the way they should be on Thanksgiving.

Even those of us, keeping the Pentagon operating through the long night, where with friends. It was a night I will long remember.

My point is that Americans should be home on this day and not working bust to make a buck for the big corporations.

[cubreporter]

Congratulations on a most sad yet beautiful article. Yes, Thanksgiving is a very special time. The meal is huge but one we waited for every year. It was part of the celebration of the day. Family, grandparents, kids, all excited becuase the next holiday would be Christmas and...it seemed forever between those two holidays.

You said it all so eloquently. Especially the part of the electronic wonderland. There is too much opinion on TV anymore and we don't watch much at all.

We will be spending Thanksgiving with family and friends and will be remembering those as you said who have left us. We'll remember the joy we shared with them and with others for so many years.

Thank you for such a wonderful, warm and caring article on a most important day. We wish you a happy celebration with those you love and and we hope you enjoy this time of blessings and reflection on what Thanksgiving really means.

[cubreporter]

OOoops, I meant to respond to the author but I responded to you instead. It's OK....you know what I mean. Thanks for the great article and Happy Thanksgiving to you too!!!

[JoeSchem]

Buy the kids Thanksgiving toys and candy, and watch the retail industry and media go bonkers over the holiday.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I don't like this column, for a couple of reasons. First, its the least commercial of the major holidays, and I like it that way. Most families celebrate it very sedately, among each other and their closest friends, which is why there isn't an orgy of coverage. Second, I don't know about you, but I go to huge lengths when I host this family time to celebrate the blessings of the year - and spend more than a few hundred bucks on it. It is far from neglected or forgotten from my perspective.

[SamAdams76]

For me, Thanksgiving and Christmas have morphed together into a single holiday season. From Thanksgiving to Christmas (actually to New Year's), it is mostly downtime for me.

Thanksgiving is always a favorite time for me because by then, all the yard work is done, the gutters are cleaned out, the firewood is stacked, the Christmas lights are up and all the other outside stuff is done. Now it's time to sit by the fireplace, as winter settles in outside, and watch the Christmas lights blink while listening to Christmas carols and getting into some good books.

Bowls of nuts are all over the house, eggnog and heavy, dark beers fill the refrigerator. We have turkey in our house all during this time - not just on Thanksgiving Day. Though we do it up extra special on Thanksgiving. And the Christmas music - yes, we play it continously from around Thanksgiving right through Christmas for one extra long holiday.

It's a great time of year. My wife and I never get stressed out at the holidays and we are homebodies. We put plenty of food on the table and everybody is welcome to come and go as they please. We don't worry about rushing here to there. Our Christmas shopping is a few mouseclicks at Amazon. If we do go out, it's to a Barnes & Noble superstore or maybe a Sharper Image or Brookstones. Because those stores are fun for us as well.

I don't think Thanksgiving is a "forgotten" holiday. Maybe it's not as commercialized as Christmas but then, why should it be? For me, the Friday after Thanksgiving is an even better day. For as many rush to the shopping malls, we hang around and munch on cold turkey and sip our wine, while stoking up the fireplace and watching a couple of holiday movies on DVD or maybe get into a good conversation with any company that we have. Thanksgiving weekend is always a lot of fun and I feel like a kid on the first day of summer vacation because at that time, Christmas is still weeks away and I have all those days of the Christmas season yet to look forward to.

[nutmeg]

read later bump