What happened to giving thanks?

[The Master]

Seriously? It's only 11/9/2012 and here we are bullshitting about Christmas...

I don't get it! SURE it's the greatest holiday of all time... But really, it seems like everyone overlooks Thanksgiving, which comes BEFORE Christmas... I'm actually more excited about Thanksgiving at this point than Christmas. Why? Because it's BEFORE Christmas...It's a time where we can get together with the family and give thanks for what we have BEFORE Christmas time.

Why? Is it because we are all already hyped up on what we might get for presents? Already making our wish lists? "Oh, it's about giving and not getting." Bullshit. Well how about we take the opportunity to give thanks for what we already have? Or are we really that selfish? You know what, why do I even ask that? Of course we are.

I just want to know everyone's thoughts on this. Why do we overlook Thanksgiving year after year after year?

EDIT: Also, why cant other places adopt Thanksgiving as a holiday? I don't know of ANYONE who celebrates Thanksgiving by bringing a bunch of Native Americans to their home and taking away their land. And not everyone celebrates Christmas as the day Jesus was born.

 

[Ilyena]

I don't think Thanksgiving necessarily gets overlooked but not everyone celebrates it. Canada and the US celebrate it but that's about it. Plus most people don't give gifts for Thanksgiving so making a thread asking what gifts everyone is getting for Thanksgiving wouldn't really work either. So I don't think it's really overlooked so much as not very widely celebrated and irrelevant to some people.

 

[The Master]

But why is that? SO many people celebrate Christmas but are all of them religious? No. Going by this, why cant other places adopt Thanksgiving as a holiday? I don't know of ANYONE who celebrates Thanksgiving by bringing a bunch of Native Americans to their home and taking away their land. And not everyone celebrates Christmas as the day Jesus was born.

I would like to change the topic and ask WHY that is?

 

[Ilyena]

Because the origins, both the real and fake versions, have no meaning to them. There may well be other places that have holidays for giving thanks but it's not the same as the US and may not necessarily be around the same time. I don't see why everyone should adopt a holiday that has no meaning to them.

 

[The Master]

Well, also, like you said in the SB, it's not as marketable as Christmas. I know everyone has their own beliefs and celebratory traditions and I don't EXPECT people to adopt Thanksgiving at all! It's just a question as to why, which you have answered. It's just upsetting that we transform holidays to become ideal to what we want, whereas Thanksgiving's traditions have remained relatively the same. Getting together and sitting down as a family and giving thanks for what we have. I'm a HUGE family person who gets together with the family EVERY year on Thanksgiving so this holiday means a lot to me... I just HATE seeing Christmas things here in America A DAY after Halloween...

 

[Benrir]

As far as I know, I've never heard of anyone over here celebrate thanksgiving. I'm a native american fan, though they describe that thanksgiving should be every day in a sense. I do that, and every day the family sit and we enjoy what we got and how we have it. There's no reason for everyone to celebrate it, but it'd be nice to think that people would consider. Sadly, that be not the case. Oh, and I live in the UK.

 

[Shu]

We've actually stopped celebrating Christmas at our house. It's due to the superficial qualities it brings and the fact that buying a present for someone out of a planned holiday is a little boring to me. Since I'm not a Christian, I don't really see it as a valid observed holiday.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are sort of lumped into one for me. We just eat a bunch of food. I give thanks to people, not to anything else, every day. So to me, thanksgiving is needed if you really think we need one day of the year to publicly give thanks for, which you probably do silently every day amongst yourself.

 

[Lirael]

We don't traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK. It was completely alien to me until I watched The Simpsons! I do, however, think that's a shame. I would rather celebrate Thankgiving than Christmas! My favourite part of Christmas is having the family come together; not the gifts.

Mind you, shouldn't we be thankful for what we have every day? I know I am! That's an even better option! =)

 

[Squid]

I celebrate Christmas because it is a world wide holiday and it is a great opportunity to get together with family, get really festive and just go all out. I get holidays from work over Christmas, and everything is just generally cheery so why wouldn't I celebrate it haha.

We do not celebrate thanksgiving in Australia, I don't even really know what thanksgiving is about, that is why I don't give thanks at thanksgiving.

Also apparently Jesus wasn't born on Christmas day at all...Christmas was a pagan holiday or something, the Christians just took Christmas and turned it into their own thing soooo

 

[The Welsh Paddy]

I just like the atmosphere of christmas. Yeah, sure it might be all superficial or whatever, but I couldn't care less. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Wales, but I don't see the point in having a specific day of the year to express gratitude in the things you have in life. I do that pretty much all the time anyway, so Thanksgiving wouldn't be anything different.

I'm happy celebrating christmas. I like buying presents for friends and family, I very much appreciate recieving gifts for christmas, although it's not the reason I look forwards to christmas. There tends to be a huge difference in people's moods. Over here atleast, people generally seem so much more happy and friendly.

What mostly makes me happy, is everything that happens around christmas than christmas day itself.

 

[Starships]

Thanksgiving is only a American tradition and holiday so in the likes of Europe you either haven't heard or it or you really honestly don't care. Christmas however is world wide and is celebrated even if you believe that Jesus was real or not. Christmas is being ruined and destroyed by markets wanting you to cash in for their products, but it's up to us and yourself to change that. Make sure your family, friends and future family get the real meaning of Christmas and not just want the media wants to think that it's becoming. A huge greed feast.

I don't even know what Thanksgiving is really about to be honest and like Liana said I had no idea that it even existed till Lisa made something for Thanksgiving and Bart ruined it, causing a huge Simpsons Drama. And there's some parade and Sonic the Hedgehog is in it ? And lots of movies come out at that time ? Lol, no idea. If there is a parade, I doubt that it's ignored over in the US. But yeah, as said before Thanksgiving is only really a US thing; while Christmas is celebrated world wide.

 

[Mitsuki]

I don't think it's really a matter of question of whether Thanksgiving is overlooked...it's kinda hard to explain since you do have a point there, but I'll expand more on this in a bit. Some people in the U.S or Canada don't even celebrate this day for personal reasons, but really, what I don't like is the day that comes after Thanksgiving, which is called Black Friday. That's when major retailers will open early due to promotional sales to start the Christmas shopping season. Usually they open as early as 2 a.m, but at my store this year, they are opening at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving. That's just ridiculous. You'll see people camp out outside the store for a few days just so they can be the first in line, thinking they're increasing their chances of getting the items they want. I feel bad for the people who has to come in that night in order to control the crowd (some have died because of it) when they could be at home spending their time with their family. So in a sense, I think Thanksgiving does get overlooked because of all the retail marketing we have going on -- not necessarily because people want to celebrate or talk about Christmas more...but then again, that's up to the individuals. Just because we see greed everywhere, doesn't mean it applies for many. Just because people are excited for Christmas, doesn't mean we don't appreciate Thanksgiving or any of the days that we should be giving thanks to anyway.

We celebrate Thanksgiving because it gives us an opportunity to get together, seeing that most of us have the day off (well, I don't, but I work extremely early in the morning and get off at 8 a.m so it won't really affect any plans we have for that day). Especially with my side of the family, I rarely ever see them due to time constraint and generally just not having that opportunity because everyone has to work, things they have to do...it's just hard to manage things overall. Too many missed birthday parties, so even though I wasn't originally planning on making a 3 hour drive to see my family for Thanksgiving, I changed my mind as soon as I found out I don't work on Friday next week. Like @The Welsh Paddy said, it's all about the atmosphere for me as well, and I love being surrounded by smiling faces and a bunch of us goofing off. It brings a side of me that normally isn't there because of stress and other problems we have to deal with throughout the year, but to see your loved ones and knowing you have that opportunity to do so (whether it's Thanksgiving or Christmas or any other days), take it. I don't care whether everybody else has their own views about each holiday, or whether they don't approve of something. To each their own. But I have my own reasons and it's enough, that's all I need.

As for Christmas...again, same as above. Yes we tend to see the rush for buying gifts for our family and friends, but I don't know why the whole aspect of giving has to be deemed as something negative. It's not like anyone is demanding that they receive something (now that I would have a problem with). It's our choice to give. Christmas has a special meaning to us, but it's not a horrible thing to give either. What's cool about it is...with both sides of the family (my husband and mine), we're all extremely tight on budget, and everyone keeps saying, "Don't get me anything" etc. We understand that, and no, we don't have to get our families gifts, especially given the situation we're all in. But, we're going to try to make the effort anyway, even if it's just simple things.

We see the greed when we are outside, that much I will admit because I have seen those as well. But inside in each home, something a lot more meaningful may be happening.

 

[The Welsh Paddy]

The only thing I don't get about your Thanks Giving Day, is... Why just that one day? It can be celebrated anytime throughout the year. It's like Valentine's day, you're pretty much being told when to show your loved ones how grateful you are for them, or how much you love them. Me and my partner do bugger all for Valentine's. We're more traditional in that aspect and celebrate Dydd Santes Dwynwen instead.

INFO, for those who are interested.

But I personally don't like being told when to express gratitude, or love. I can express that in my own way, whenever I want.

 

[Shinra Executive]

Seriously? It's only 11/9/2012 and here we are bullshitting about Christmas...

I don't get it! SURE it's the greatest holiday of all time... But really, it seems like everyone overlooks Thanksgiving, which comes BEFORE Christmas... I'm actually more excited about Thanksgiving at this point than Christmas. Why? Because it's BEFORE Christmas...It's a time where we can get together with the family and give thanks for what we have BEFORE Christmas time.

The holidays just kind of run together for me- I consider Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all one big 'holiday era'. It's the season which we all come together

 

[Tyler Breeze]

Yay hoo..... Family activities. LOL anyway, I do feel bad for Thanksgiving sometimes. I love the day of it. Most of the time it turns out to be a good day. Mom has provided me with many Thanksgiving memories of the years (spilling her beer, cutting her finger with a knife, her drunk gaming, etc). I don't know. I guess all most people think about these days is getting their kid the newest electronic as a present for Christmas.