When I was little, I'm pretty sure Christmas was the #1 ranked holiday in my mind. Hardly a surprise, but as I've aged I'd have to say it's definitely changed to Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving has no pretenses. You don't have to bring gifts for people in order to celebrate it. You're not expected to put on pretenses because of it. The media doesn't spent millions of hours trying to convince you or guilt you into to acting differently during that holiday. We don't even argue about how we celebrate it.
With Christmas, you have to be careful not to offend anyone. There's Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannakuh, Festivus, Druid celebration of the shortest day of the year! More trees are wasted on newspaper inserts telling us what we absolutely can't live without and how it will be on sale on something called BLACK FRIDAY because of that winter holiday.
Thanksgiving is all about food, family and catching up in a low key way. Well, there IS football, but there's a lot more of the visiting with family and friends than anything.
In our hurried world, we seldom get the time to just sit down and have a good old fashioned visit with someone - anyone! No TV, no internet, no telephone to interrupt. Just a "How's your fall been?" , "What's new with your kids?", "What's going on at your work?", "Did Uncle Jay ACTUALLY say that?"
Take a little time to learn your family stories. Embrace the diversity of your own family. Learn something new about a family member you never knew and count your many blessings this Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims got it right!
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