If I were to identify my least favorite American holiday of the year, it would be Thanksgiving. Sound harsh? It really isn’t. It is just a matter of ranking all national holidays and realizing something has to be last.
Here is my list (feel free to post yours if the moment strikes you.)
There are six national holidays. I have listed them in order of preference:
1. Christmas Day (December 25th)
2. New Years Day (January 1st)
3. Independence Day (July 4th)
4. Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)
5. Labor Day (First Monday in September)
6. Thanksgiving (Last Thursday in November)
In defense of my list, Christmas probably ranks near the top of everyone’s list. Christmas is a hugely festive occasion, celebrated for nearly a month prior to the day’s highly anticipated arrival. With Christmas serving both secular and religious aspects, it trumps all other holidays by matter of mass appeal, buildup, relevance, and meaning. Christmas is almost a fifth season, one that most people find enchanting and elegant as they conjure images of falling snow and groups of carolers smiling as they sing The First Noel while their breath floats into the cold night air.
I love Christmas, materialism aside, and fittingly have placed it atop my list of holidays.
From Christmas onward, my list loses a little of its sizzle. New Years Day comes in second place because it symbolizes a new beginning, a fresh start, intense personal reflection, and college football bowl games. It is a day that builds for a week culminating in late night revelry followed by a day of peaceful rest and relaxation which does not focus solely on food. For me, New Years day is a day of goal setting and looking ahead, and a good football game to boot. Pun intended.
Independence Day is almost certainly the best of the summer holidays. As the centerpiece of three quick hitting summer holidays, July 4th is arguably more American than apple pie, and with its host of parades, cookouts, fireworks, and summer weather, the celebration of our country’s independence is the focal point of the entire summer season. I can almost smell the pungent burn of Chinese made firecrackers as they light up the summer sky to the scripted sounds of John Phillip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever! Independence Day is almost better than New Years Day but the heavy food requirement it demands drops it a spot to number three.
After Independence Day, the rankings are simply a matter of preference. I stand in honor of the American military and value the sentiment of paying tribute to the fallen. In my opinion, we don’t value Memorial Day enough. Therefore, Memorial Day comes in 4th place on my certainly disputed holiday list.
The battle for 5th place comes down to Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Both involve fairly abstract principles in which to celebrate. One recognizes one’s labor and sets aside a day to honor one's toils while the other features a feast to recognize the alliance between the pilgrims and the indigenous American Indians, a couple of lob-sided NFL games, and a turkey leg. On one hand, I must admit, I like to eat and watch football, but on the other, honoring my labor is highly welcomed and I do work hard. And since Labor Day also serves as the ceremonial end of summer, comes with picnics and parades, and features swimming pools, vacations, and myriad outside activities, I give Labor Day the nod.
Thanksgiving is nice, but I’m claustrophobic and being stuck inside an over-heated home, drowsy from a tryptophan overdose, while sporting an extended belly doesn’t make me want to move Thanksgiving up the list. I am thankful for antacids, however, which make Aunt Sally’s turkey gravy even slightly palatable.
With that said, I do value the aspect of thankfulness, just not solely on Thanksgiving Day. While pondering my many blessings last year, I chronicled my thankfulness in a blog entitled A Thanksgiving to God: (http://stormplay.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksgiving-to-god.html)
During my time of reflection last year, I had an epiphany, and in that moment, made an audit of my blessings with my thanksgiving being to God, as I believe was the sentiment of the original Thanksgiving. Debate aside, if one gives thanks, it must be to something or someone. Otherwise, it seems useless to do so.
Too many times, around the holiday of Thanksgiving, you hear the generic word “thankful” thrown around like a verbal tic; an overused cliché used without ascribing proper ownership for the blessing. To be thankful without giving credit to God is to improperly understand the meaning of thanksgiving.
I am looking forward to Thanksgiving, however. It will be a week filled with family time and a to-do list a mile long. I am indeed thankful for my many blessings; my lovely wife and beautiful children which I do not deserve, extended family that loves us unconditionally and helps us all year long, a job that supports our lifestyle and meets our needs, and friends that come in all shapes and sizes poised and ready to encourage us when life bends in unforeseen directions. Additionally, I am thankful for the unusual events of the last year that have provided us a Godly perspective; a roof leak that reminded us that we have shelter from the storm, sicknesses to remind us our health is a blessing, struggles that strengthened us, trials that taught us, and tribulations that granted us the foresight we lacked. Truly, we are blessed and I am thankful to God and His mercy on my family.
So, yeah, Thanksgiving is last on my list of celebratory national holidays, not because I am unthankful, but rather because I am. Today’s Thanksgiving is more of a gluttonous occasion highlighted by noncompetitive football and retail bliss than a day of remembrance, thanks, and togetherness. But that’s just me…and since it’s my list…Thanksgiving is last. Just a thought!
Here is my list (feel free to post yours if the moment strikes you.)
There are six national holidays. I have listed them in order of preference:
1. Christmas Day (December 25th)
2. New Years Day (January 1st)
3. Independence Day (July 4th)
4. Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)
5. Labor Day (First Monday in September)
6. Thanksgiving (Last Thursday in November)
In defense of my list, Christmas probably ranks near the top of everyone’s list. Christmas is a hugely festive occasion, celebrated for nearly a month prior to the day’s highly anticipated arrival. With Christmas serving both secular and religious aspects, it trumps all other holidays by matter of mass appeal, buildup, relevance, and meaning. Christmas is almost a fifth season, one that most people find enchanting and elegant as they conjure images of falling snow and groups of carolers smiling as they sing The First Noel while their breath floats into the cold night air.
I love Christmas, materialism aside, and fittingly have placed it atop my list of holidays.
From Christmas onward, my list loses a little of its sizzle. New Years Day comes in second place because it symbolizes a new beginning, a fresh start, intense personal reflection, and college football bowl games. It is a day that builds for a week culminating in late night revelry followed by a day of peaceful rest and relaxation which does not focus solely on food. For me, New Years day is a day of goal setting and looking ahead, and a good football game to boot. Pun intended.
Independence Day is almost certainly the best of the summer holidays. As the centerpiece of three quick hitting summer holidays, July 4th is arguably more American than apple pie, and with its host of parades, cookouts, fireworks, and summer weather, the celebration of our country’s independence is the focal point of the entire summer season. I can almost smell the pungent burn of Chinese made firecrackers as they light up the summer sky to the scripted sounds of John Phillip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever! Independence Day is almost better than New Years Day but the heavy food requirement it demands drops it a spot to number three.
After Independence Day, the rankings are simply a matter of preference. I stand in honor of the American military and value the sentiment of paying tribute to the fallen. In my opinion, we don’t value Memorial Day enough. Therefore, Memorial Day comes in 4th place on my certainly disputed holiday list.
The battle for 5th place comes down to Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Both involve fairly abstract principles in which to celebrate. One recognizes one’s labor and sets aside a day to honor one's toils while the other features a feast to recognize the alliance between the pilgrims and the indigenous American Indians, a couple of lob-sided NFL games, and a turkey leg. On one hand, I must admit, I like to eat and watch football, but on the other, honoring my labor is highly welcomed and I do work hard. And since Labor Day also serves as the ceremonial end of summer, comes with picnics and parades, and features swimming pools, vacations, and myriad outside activities, I give Labor Day the nod.
Thanksgiving is nice, but I’m claustrophobic and being stuck inside an over-heated home, drowsy from a tryptophan overdose, while sporting an extended belly doesn’t make me want to move Thanksgiving up the list. I am thankful for antacids, however, which make Aunt Sally’s turkey gravy even slightly palatable.
With that said, I do value the aspect of thankfulness, just not solely on Thanksgiving Day. While pondering my many blessings last year, I chronicled my thankfulness in a blog entitled A Thanksgiving to God: (http://stormplay.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksgiving-to-god.html)
During my time of reflection last year, I had an epiphany, and in that moment, made an audit of my blessings with my thanksgiving being to God, as I believe was the sentiment of the original Thanksgiving. Debate aside, if one gives thanks, it must be to something or someone. Otherwise, it seems useless to do so.
Too many times, around the holiday of Thanksgiving, you hear the generic word “thankful” thrown around like a verbal tic; an overused cliché used without ascribing proper ownership for the blessing. To be thankful without giving credit to God is to improperly understand the meaning of thanksgiving.
I am looking forward to Thanksgiving, however. It will be a week filled with family time and a to-do list a mile long. I am indeed thankful for my many blessings; my lovely wife and beautiful children which I do not deserve, extended family that loves us unconditionally and helps us all year long, a job that supports our lifestyle and meets our needs, and friends that come in all shapes and sizes poised and ready to encourage us when life bends in unforeseen directions. Additionally, I am thankful for the unusual events of the last year that have provided us a Godly perspective; a roof leak that reminded us that we have shelter from the storm, sicknesses to remind us our health is a blessing, struggles that strengthened us, trials that taught us, and tribulations that granted us the foresight we lacked. Truly, we are blessed and I am thankful to God and His mercy on my family.
So, yeah, Thanksgiving is last on my list of celebratory national holidays, not because I am unthankful, but rather because I am. Today’s Thanksgiving is more of a gluttonous occasion highlighted by noncompetitive football and retail bliss than a day of remembrance, thanks, and togetherness. But that’s just me…and since it’s my list…Thanksgiving is last. Just a thought!
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