An Open Letter to...Thanksgiving

 I felt it was time to send a little open letter to Thanksgiving.  That's right, Thanksgiving.  You see, lately there seems to be a rise in the defense of Thanksgiving.  People getting up in arms about when it is appropriate to play Christmas music or put up decorations and sometimes even outright criticism of those who decorate too early...evidently there is a secret Christmas festivities police squad running around, and don't you dare violate their unwritten rules.  Good grief, folks!  It seems there is an assumption that if Christmas music is being played "too soon" then the perps must not care about Thanksgiving. As if somehow those who enjoy listening to Christmas music or watching a Christmas movie or two before Thanksgiving don't like or appreciate this wonderful holiday.  So, as someone who can't wait to bust out the Christmas music as early as humanly possible, I wanted to explain to Thanksgiving why we do it.  This is not an attempt to ignite a sort of "Thanksgiving wars" but rather, to help calm any grievances I may or may not have caused our beloved Thanksgiving holiday. 

In our home, The Christmas music starts playing sometime in October. Yep, we are some of "those" people. Guilty!  But, my dearest Thanksgiving, it has nothing to do with not enjoying your celebration.  I love Thanksgiving.  I always have. I love it for its simplicity. It's a time to give thanks.  To reflect on the abundance of blessings in our lives.  It's gathering with family, friends, and food!  There is no concern over whether or not you've picked the perfect gift for someone...or whether you can even afford to buy gifts at all.  There aren't many scary aspects of Thanksgiving to be concerned about...except for some of the Black Friday mobs...sheesh!  Thanksgiving couldn't care less if you have a date or not because that has no bearing on its celebration.  If a store brings out decor and festivities early, that's called marketing, but when it happens in a home, that's what I like to call celebrating!  When we consider setting aside a day to give thanks, how can I not burst at the seems giving thanks for the birth of the savior of the world? He is Emmanuel - God with us!!!  Then, when his birth is to be celebrated a month after Thanksgiving, is it so wrong that the two holidays seem to overlap each other?  Not in a way where one holiday takes away from the other but in a manner where they both complement each other. If Christmas music filters into our home before the 4th Thursday in November, could it be because that is one way in which we long to give thanks to our King?  It in no way means we don't truly enjoy you, Thanksgiving.  

This year we made our first thankful tree. Our boys were excited to help color and cut out leaves so we could write what we were thankful for on them.  I was excited to do this to help our young children begin to learn the importance of being aware of the blessings we have...for them to have a simple visual of what it means when we say, "let's be thankful for what we have."  Boy was I optimistic!  We started with our 3 year old...when asked what he was thankful for he responded with, "the thankful tree."  Well, at least he is enjoying this little bit of family fun.  Then we went to our almost-two-year-old...his response, "2!"  That's right...just the number two.  He even held up both index fingers in case we were confused.  I thought if they saw me and the hubs listing things we were thankful for they might get the hang of it, but after the 4th round of "more trees" and "2," I could see I had set my sights too high. There seemed to be a tiny glimpse of hope when our youngest said what we thought was "hogs!"  Could it be?! Has our son given an unprompted cheering on of the Razorbacks?!?!!  All was not lost...or so I thought, until I later figured out, after my sons clear frustration, that what we thought was the word "hogs" was actually him trying to say the word "straws."  Hogs...straws...toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe!  

But, I digress...my dearest Thanksgiving, in case you were at all wondering, you are anything but overlooked.  Our Christmas music does not mean we don't appreciate you or have in any way forgotten you.  That couldn't be further from the truth.  Please don't feel slighted if you hear us playing Christmas music before you roll around...we aren't skipping you at all.  We are simply trying to enjoy this season in which we give thanks for our many blessings, and since we don't have Thanksgiving music to play in honor of your celebration, we play songs celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, because that is something to truly and humbly give thanks for...that and, of course, "2!" :)