What Happened To Thanksgiving?

Every year, right about this time, I feel myself becoming upset. It actually starts right around Halloween, and as the days of November roll by, I become more and more annoyed. Puzzled, too. I’d like to know if anyone else feels the same way. The media doesn’t seem to be bothered at all. On the contrary, it just adds to my confusion and dismay...

What the heck happened to Thanksgiving? I mean, we go from a huge Halloween hype to a huge Christmas hype and no one says a thing about Thanksgiving. Oh, sorry. I forgot about Black Friday. Everyone knows about the huge sales with the crazy shoppers on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Oh, I get it. It’s all about the money, right? Let’s face it, Thanksgiving does not generate a whole lot of sales. After all, people are not rushing out to buy costumes so they can dress up like pilgrims and Native Americans on Thanksgiving Day. And, who buys Thanksgiving presents and wraps them in Thanksgiving wrapping paper? 

And what do kids care about Thanksgiving? Well, kids are far more interested in the Great Pumpkin and Santa Claus than Tom the Turkey. Maybe if someone created a turkey character that could scare the hell out of you when he flies down your chimney to deliver Thanksgiving dinner....well, maybe kids (and everyone else for that matter) would get a little more excited and pay a little more attention to the one day a year that’s set aside to simply give thanks.

Believe me, I’m not trying to create another worry for myself or take on a “cause” because I don’t need one more thing to worry about, do, or organize right now. I guess I’m just trying to shed some light on the importance of being thankful for the God-given gifts one has. Let’s face it, our society (as reflected in the media) seems far more focused upon buying more and more and more stuff “out there”...especially at this time of year...instead of looking at the gifts within. Honestly, this lack of attention to Thanksgiving thing has been a beef of mine for a long time, but this year I find myself more irritated than ever.

When Anthony was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, my perception of life, and everything in it, changed. It changed for the better. Kind of weird, isn’t it, that something so bad could change my life for the better? I guess it’s like that saying, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” It’s true. When you are hit in the face with something terrible, you can let yourself fall right into it and let it gobble you up (no pun intended here), until every last bit of you has been consumed. Or, you can take a good look at it, acknowledge how much it really sucks, and then allow yourself to see how good the good things in your life really are. Some people might say this latter approach is keeping a positive attitude. I say it’s surviving with grace. That, in itself, is something to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays... Anthony’s, too. The closer it gets, the more excited we become, cancer or not. We enjoy spending time with family and cooking up a storm and having the house full of delicious fragrances and the people we love. When we gather ourselves around that Thanksgiving table and join our hands and hearts in prayer, it all comes together in that moment...What we have right then and there is all we need and more than we could ever ask for. 

Try to put that in a TV commercial and sell it.

Stay tuned for more reflections on Thanksgiving 2011.