Where Did Thanksgiving Go This Year?
by One minute it was Halloween. The next it was the Christmas season. Did we skip Thanksgiving or something?
A couple of weeks ago I was walking through stores and everything was orange and black. There were bags of candy all over the place, and smiling pumpkins and witches and monsters and … the list goes on.
Then a handful of kids came to my house and asked for candy. I gave them some.
The next day I got up and went to the store again. Suddenly, over night, the orange and black had all disappeared. What little candy was left was really cheap (but mostly it was candy not too many people like any way).
Now the stores were filled with red and green and fake fir trees and smiling fat guys in red suits.
Christmas was here. The first week of November.
What the heck ever happened to Thanksgiving? Did it die? Did it run away? Did it get kidnapped?
It has flat out disappeared.
I’m already seeing Christmas lights up at some of my neighbors’ houses. Wreaths are on doors. Ribbons are tied around lamp posts.
And I’ve not even had any turkey yet.
I really noticed when my wife asked me to pick up some Thanksgiving paper towels. I couldn’t find any at the stores. No brown and orange paper towels with little images of turkeys or pilgrim hats. But paper towels with red berries and green trees are readily available. She didn’t believe me when I called her from the store. She thought I was just being lazy. Minutes later she called me back, while I was still in the store, and apologized; she had called three other stores and none of them had Thanksgiving paper towels. Or napkins. Or nose tissues. Or anything.
Our closest Walmart had one little display of napkins with turkeys on them and paper table cloths with pilgrims.
I know Christmas comes quick every year, but right now in 2009 it seems to have come sooner than ever.
Is it the economy? Are the retail stores in such a dump that management decided to start Christmas early in hopes it would bring out more shoppers?
Maybe all of us are glad to see this. Maybe the world is in such a bad shape that all of us are ready for the Christmas season to kick in.
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Post Commentmkd1788
On November 15, 2009 at 3:33 am
interesting…
svishnugopal
On November 15, 2009 at 5:52 am
very interesting and thought provoking…
goindia
On November 15, 2009 at 7:23 am
worth thinking over.
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JaiRudolf
On November 15, 2009 at 1:05 pm
wow, you just gotta keep thanksgivnig alive by celebrating it, even on your own
Zahid
On November 15, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Nice article. I totally agree.
K.Reshma
On November 15, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Great article
bt
On November 26, 2009 at 10:44 am
I don’t think it’s rocket science. We mark the seasons of our lives by tracking seasonal media retail advertising. There are seasonal events that move low cost high markup products and seasonal events that really don’t.
We’re in a recession. Halloween is the high dollar retail season for the party decorations and confection retailers. Cheap paper and party goods, costumes, and sugar sold at 500-1000% markups (almost as good as a pharmaceuticals).
Because of energy food got more expensive to sell (noticed the prices) and the profit margin for food isn’t as great. So the Thanksgiving advertisement dollars weren’t pumped out there. There isn’t as much money in it.
Christmas is a very profitable season for many areas of retail. So the advertising went from Halloween to Christmas.
It’s just a shock to those people that track the seasons by the advertising on TV.
I personally believe every husband and wife should sit down with a calendar and determine what dates they want to make part of their family traditions based on the values they want to promote to their kids. Yes, it’s a little out of the box, but maybe civil rights, or world peace events, celebration of powered flight or walking on the moon are probably more meaning full than church mythologies and retail events.
Why empower all those special interest groups that don’t necessarily track the values you want to promote to your kids. Some dates may have to coincide with holiday dates for time off (congress has the power to declare holidays, and they are bought) but you can decorate, and fast, feast and celebrate family traditions on any dates you agree on.
mo hoyal
On November 27, 2009 at 1:18 pm
This was very interesting and I might add, it’s all about money! Christmas things are all about here and were BEFORE Thanksgiving so you’re right. Corporate greed to make more money.