In my family growing up we had those paper decorations to hang in the window for EVERY holiday important to a Christian raised kid (and let me state, I am not Christian or anything else as an adult). We had decorations for: Valentine's, St. Pat's, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Now that I have kids, I have a wall tree that we decorate for the holidays. I have decorations - TONS for Valentines, enough for St. Pats, TONS for Easter, Many for spring/summer, TONS for Halloween, Barely ANY for Thanksgiving, and TONS for Christmas.
The last few days and a day last week I went into various craft stores and little stores to find some hanging smallish Thanksgiving decorations and nada, zilch, zip! Halloween stuff is coming out of every row, and a TINY 1/4 aise for Thanksgiving, and then Christmas stuff coming more and more every day, because, you know, it's ALMOST mid October and Christmas is like "right there!"
I know there USED to be more turkeys and pilgrim stuff, but it's gone. It's all generic "fall themed" and even iwth that, no hanging decorations. I'm at a loss! I'll have to check out ebay next because my "thanksgiving tree" looks NAKED! At least Pottery Barn Kids doesn't skip over Thanksgiving....
What a twisted world when Halloween trumps the day of giving thanks - tricking and scareing people is more "in". And then the Christmas blitz takes over even before Halloween hits. Thanksgiving is lost in the shuffle.
Maybe I like Thanksgiving MORE than any other Holiday because it's a day to say, "thank you for all I have. Thank you to family and friends. Just THANKS!" There's no presents being exchanged, no big hoopla of anything except making plans to go to friends and family's houses for dinner and conversation. Maybe it's because religion or christianity is not at it's root (though no one can say it's not "religious" either).
I know Thanksgivings can be a day of stress for some people, but it has always been a special day for my family growing up and now one for my kids. My 12 year old says, "it's my favorite holiday". Ah, he's my son after all! (Normally he is just like is dad!)
Starting last year (and we will continue this year) we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house. It's MEANT to be an open house for all and I really enjoy making a feast to share with those I care about and for new friends being made. So WHY is it being forgotten in the retail stores? The most FUNDAMENTAL holiday of our nation? The day of giving thanks. Any more I think the holiday is more about shopping for Christmas than it is for giving thanks.
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