Blog #33: Why Thanksgiving is the Most Underrated Holiday

We all know those people who, as soon as Halloween is over, break out the Christmas music (not guilty) and the winter-themed socks (definitely guilty). And it's not like they're being discouraged from doing so; for example, Spotify has been giving me aggressive Christmas-themed ads for the past couple weeks at least. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas carols, Elf, and candy canes just as much as the next girl (plus I wrote a Christmas-themed blog post in October so that might make me a worse offender than the Christmas-songs-in-November crowd), but I don't like it when people forget about the major holiday that exists between Halloween and Christmas--and I'm not talking about Black Friday.

Thanksgiving! There are so many wonderful things about Thanksgiving that I don't even know where to start, so I'll just repeat: Thanksgiving!!! When most people think about Thanksgiving, probably the first thing they think about is food (note: I just proved this scientifically by asking my roommate). I love food. Probably my only weakness is my inability to resist delicious food (along with my crappy sense of direction).

People always used to compare me to Pam but I didn't understand until seeing this.

My dad is an awesome cook and he spends the entire day and a half before Thanksgiving cooking. Bacon-covered turkey is a prime example and one of my favorites, but our guests are from all over the world so they always bring really interesting food too.

Another great thing about Thanksgiving is getting to spend time with family and friends. This is something I've definitely come to appreciate more since coming to college. I haven't seen my family since August, and it'll be great to be able to annoy my parents again in person and bug my little brothers about the presumably-directionless lives they've been living without my guidance. I also get to be reunited with some of my best friends from home, my pickup truck (which I probably like more than I like most people), and, perhaps most importantly, my cat (who I definitely like more than I like most people).

But wait!--you say. Both of those things are true of Christmas too!

Yes, but there are two other things that make Thanksgiving so amazing. First, the timing. It's getting to the point in the semester where I really just need a break (actually we had probably gotten to that point about 4 or 5 weeks ago, but I've made it since then with only a few minor crises). I tend to get really sick at the end of each spring semester, and I think Thanksgiving break is what rejuvenates me enough to not die at the end of each fall semester.

Me at the end of every semester.

The second thing is that Thanksgiving focuses on being happy about what you already have, whereas Christmas, in all of its consumerist glory, kind of ends up feeling the opposite. I always spend the few weeks before Christmas panicking about getting gifts for other people and panicking whenever anyone asks me what I want for Christmas, because I never have any idea. Then I spend the week after Christmas feeling vaguely annoyed and dissatisfied with whatever I've gotten, regardless of the fact that I didn't know what I wanted in the first place so why would anybody else know what to get me? (I apologize to anyone who has ever had the misfortune of having to buy me a gift.)

Anyway, I'm not saying that Thanksgiving is necessarily better than Christmas--I really love Christmas too. Basically the bottom line (so that I don't end on a cliché) is that people need to stop under-appreciating Thanksgiving because it's a pretty awesome holiday, and I'm super pumped to be on break in less than 24 hours (shoutout to my Tuesday classes for canceling lecture!).

Confession: I was actually ready for Thanksgiving in August.

Happy Thanksgiving from me and my dorky brothers!