By OLIVIA IANNONE
Staff Writer
As the oldest American holiday has quickly come and gone, it’s become clear to me, once again, that Thanksgiving never receives the fanfare that other major holidays do.
It doesn’t even receive a sliver of the attention that Christmas does. I mean, let’s face it: no one is rushing around to purchase last-minute Thanksgiving gifts. There are no TV commercials with overly-happy families decked out in matching Thanksgiving sweaters. There are no giant displays of marshmallow turkeys in grocery stores, and children don’t get worked up over a magical Native American that delivers presents.
Thanksgiving buildup exists, but it’s not much. I am not drowning in it. It is not emptying my wallet. And I don’t expect to end the day with any more possessions than I began it with.
You have to hand it to America – we know how to celebrate holidays, but Thanksgiving is actually the only one we nail year after year. It has stood the test of time. In 1620, Thanksgiving was about being together with loved ones, eating a lot of food and being grateful. Nearly 400 years later, this holiday’s meaning has not changed.
Other holidays haven’t been so lucky. The most obvious example is Christmas. It was meant to be a highly religious celebration of the birth of Jesus or, on a secular level, a celebration of joy and hope. Today, it is essentially a week-long celebration of materialism.
Someone is constantly trying to sell you something or buy you something (which then prompts you to buy them something in return). The whole affair gets ridiculously complicated and expensive. It’s hard to kick back and enjoy a holiday with people you care about when the business world is trying to force-feed manufactured cheer down your throat.
On Thanksgiving, we are each allowed to make our own cheer and the spirit of the day becomes that much more authentic. We’re not so blinded by hype that we forget the most important thing: it is a day to be thankful and happy, not a day to buy things or cover our houses with lights. America has not yet forgotten how to give thanks, which is just one more thing to be thankful for.