The first of November hit us this week, and that means a lot more than you’d initially expect. It means Halloween is over, and so are all the spoopy memes. It means we’re in the final stretch of the semester (yikes). It means Starbucks started selling its Christmas drinks.
It’s not just Starbucks that’s already in the Christmas spirit. The aisles of CVS are stocked with red and green. Even the weather has gotten into it as we head to colder and colder temperatures.
As the winter-wonderland supporters exchange their Halloween costumes for Santa hats, the critics of everything fun and happy emerge from their caves. These are the people who complain about how all the Christmas magic is stepping on Thanksgiving.
Let me be clear about a few points:
1. I am Jewish. I don’t even celebrate Christmas.
2. I am a vegetarian, and Thanksgiving is kind of lame when you can’t eat the turkey.
3. The critics I’m talking about are not the same ones you hear about when some crazy person complains about “the war on Christmas.” That woman is mad because her cashier at Walmart said “happy holidays” instead of “merry Christmas.” I am exclusively referring to those who wish to delay the Christmas festivities until after Thanksgiving.
Christmas is the best, honestly. I know very little about the religious aspects of the holiday, but from what I understand following conversations with religious friends, Christmas as an American holiday isn’t really the same Christmas from the Bible. Christmas in America is about trees and presents and family and bomb-ass lights all over your house. (I’m ignoring the “keep Christ in Christmas” people for the sake of the length of this piece.)
Despite the fact that I never got to decorate a Christmas tree growing up, I still love this holiday. People are much more cheery this time of year, and I love TV Christmas specials. I could do without so much Christmas music, but I’ll suffer through that in the name of Doctor Who.
Now, let’s talk about Thanksgiving. I understand the appeal of getting together with your family, talking about what you’re thankful for, and stuffing your face with a dead bird. But in practice, a huge family dinner can be incredibly draining, especially when you’re the Resident College Student forced to field questions about where the rest of your life is headed.
Furthermore, Thanksgiving is founded on a pretty weird tradition. Let’s take that story at face value, the one about how the Pilgrims and the Native Americans broke bread together. That sounds awesome, and if the immigrating foreigners hadn’t proceeded to found this country on the blood of the indigenous peoples, I would be all for this holiday.
Now, Thanksgiving is barely even a holiday, and honestly, I’m not too upset about that. Black Friday deals start Thursday night, we eat pumpkin pie during the whole season, and if the whole family is getting together in a month for Christmas anyway, why bother with Thanksgiving?
Honestly, step off. Stop complaining about how you’re missing out on your precious Thanksgiving. Nobody really gets into the “Thanksgiving spirit” so let us have our fun with Christmas. If you work in a department store, I can understand why you want capitalism to lay off Black Friday. But to everyone else who’s mad that Christmas starts the day after Halloween now, stop it.
Just embrace the elves and peppermint and snowflake decorations. If a little Jewish girl can do it, so can you. Let Thanksgiving be what it is — one day to eat a lot of food. And let Christmas be what it deserves — two full months of holiday cheer and festivities.
Gillian Lelchuk is a junior Writing Seminars and mathematics double major from Los Alamitos, Calif. She is the Opinions Editor.
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