Christmas Before Thanksgiving

I think we all have experienced this. 

The BLAST of Christmas everything the day after Halloween. (Heck, here, it was a week before Halloween!)

I know so many people who feel annoyed by this because it's unfair to Thanksgiving. 

These are some actual quotes by friends/people in the store that I have overheard:

"I would love to see more Thanksgiving days crafts..."

"Drives me crazy that Thanksgiving seems to be completely forgotten."

"Hey. Humans. There is still another holiday before Christmas!"

"It makes me mad that people are so ungrateful that they skip Thanksgiving and go straight for Christmas. Decor, food ideas, gift ideas! Is this what we've come to? Greedy about our Christmas gifts that we can't stop be thankful for anything even for a day?"

This is not a new argument.

I've seen it over and over again. 

However, I'd like to shed some light on this situation because unlike my friends/those frustrated shoppers, I disagree that Christmas has to be put on hold. Please understand before continuing that I have nothing against anyone who wishes to wait to deck the halls until after the turkey has been served. I only hope to add a little perspective on the subject.

Recently (today) a good friend of mine hopped on Facebook and after being bombarded with Christmas galore and no Thanksgiving in sight, she decided to express her frustration about Thanksgiving being glazed over. She simply wanted (wants) Thanksgiving to get some notice and appreciation.(Thank you KM for opening the discussion!)

And who could blame her? I mean, really, it's a great holiday with a great purpose and a perk (not the purpose of the holiday entirely) happens to be a fabulous feast with the family.

So, what is the purpose of Thanksgiving? 

In 1863 when Thanksgiving became an official federal holiday, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that the purpose was,"Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

(Read the full, powerful and moving proclamation here.)

By this alone, we learn that "Jesus is the reason for the season." 

A season to be thankful and to praise our Lord and Redeemer for the bounty with which he blesses us.

There is also another celebrated and glorified season which Jesus is the reason for. 

(Though He is the reason for every season, we don't celebrate each with such flourish the way Thanksgiving and this other season are celebrated.)

Christmas. 

A season to be thankful for his birth which led to His life and Atonement. Without which, we could not have eternal life.

It is for this reason that Neil and I will be decorating the house this week with our Christmas decor as well as our Thanksgiving decor. 

However, I will say that we have a lot more Christmas decor than we do Thanksgiving decor and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we are still college students. We live in a tiny apartment and don't find it necessary to have boxes and boxes of holiday decor.

 And I'm okay with it because when I look at the nativity, I'm reminded to be thankful. 

When I see my sign saying, "Peace on Earth", I'm reminded to pray for peace in my life.

When I see the lights on my tree glistening in the darkness of my living room, I'm reminded to thank the Lord for being the light in my life.

I think you get my point. 

I don't think that we have to hold off on Christmas simply because Thanksgiving has yet to pass us by. In fact, I like to think that Thanksgiving is the John the Baptist to Christmas. John the Baptist helped prepare the way for Christ to be accepted. Thanksgiving gives us each the opportunity to make way in our hearts for the reason for every season. Jesus Christ. That being said, John the Baptist and Jesus Christ did not exist independent of each other. Neither should Thanksgiving and Christmas. At least that's how I feel about it and have chosen to act upon it.

Now, please know that I understand that most companies aren't putting out the Christmas stuff to remind people of Christ. I'm fairly certain that they do it to make a profit. So, while that can be annoying, I chose to forgo getting all panty-twisted about it because I've never really believed that (most) stores ever cared about reminding people of Christ during that season anyway. So why be all bugged about it now? For me, getting bugged takes away the spirit that I want to feel and I refuse to let stores take it from me!

Also, in regards to Pinterest being bombarded with Christmas in October, I have to admit that I'm pinning Christmas all year. In fact, I'm pinning Thanksgiving all year. Little by little but I amp up my Thanksgiving pins around September. (How dare I steal Labor Day's thunder!-I'm being sarcastic of course...)

All in all, I hope that you understand the point of this rather lengthy post. It's not what we celebrate (or quite frankly when we celebrate) it's the spirit in which we celebrate. I celebrate Thanksgiving with the same spirit I celebrate Christmas with. So, for me, they become one massive holiday with two separate functions that both require special and even sacred attention. You may also celebrate each holiday with the same spirit but wish to separate them into two distinct, yet equal, holidays and that is okay. For either party, I hope that there is still enough respect in the world to allow each of us to celebrate how we will in kindness and charity. 

I'm curious about your thoughts on the subject! Leave a comment below with how you celebrate each holiday!