Thanksgiving has been placed on the back burner. Unable to commercialize a good old-fashioned family turkey dinner, it seems like Big Business has decided to slowly marginalize the holiday by starting advertising targeted toward the more profitable Christmas season earlier and earlier.
Soon, Black Friday will be November’s most important holiday.
I realize that Thanksgiving has already come and gone, and people of all faiths have more holidays to look forward to, but what’s happened to Thanksgiving threatens to ruin the whole holiday season.
They’ve broken the Golden Rule. No, not treating others how you’d like to be treated, the other Golden Rule: Never start Christmas commercials until after Santa has done his thing at the Macy’s Day Parade. And, I think, as Santa — no longer just a saint, but the deity of commercialism — widens his acting career, which includes Coca-Cola advertisements, mall appearances and family movies, my holiday homeostasis is beginning to get out of whack.
No matter how many times I watch “Elf,” I just can’t seem to get into the holiday spirit anymore. Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve used to be a magical time full of charming songs, light-up decorations and vibrant presents. The holiday season is an important part of many people’s lives, and it all begins with that monumental meal in late November.
It’s not only the Culture Industry that’s messing up the holidays for me. Maybe it’s just my family, but the celebration of the holiday season has gotten smaller and smaller over the past years, to the point that it almost seems like an afterthought. Gatherings where family from all across the nation gathered have been replaced by much less inclusive get-togethers where the smaller attendance has led to a smaller celebration, that is if we have any joint celebration at all.
Brightly-wrapped presents under an awe-inspiring tree or a dazzling menorah — that’s right, I get to celebrate both — have been foregone for much more convenient gift cards encased in embarrassingly unfunny greeting cards.
This past Thanksgiving has been just one example of the pitiful parties during this epoch of decline. I drove my sister to my great aunt and uncle’s house while my mom spent the day with her brother and my grandma.
Off to an already rocky start, I arrived at our destination to find a much different situation than I’m used to. There were a number of people there whom I barely recognized, which was compounded by the fact that many old favorites weren’t able to make it to the occasion. It was a nice time, but it left me wanting more and was a shoddy start to a holiday season that I’m already pessimistic about.
But I know it’s wrong to blame my family. It’s not their fault any more than it would be mine. Things change, people move and perhaps this holiday season slump is all just a part of growing up. The thing is, a fool for nostalgia like me just can’t help but long for those cozy winter nights.
All hope may not be lost, though. I still have Donny Hathaway’s “The Christmas” and holiday specials galore to rekindle the flame. And hopefully, if I don’t end up some sort of philosophical vagrant when I grow up, I can host the holiday season in my own home and bring back all the little things that seem to be missing.