Tuesday, November 16, 2010

When did Thanksgiving stop mattering?

Hello all.  Neyland D. Catt back at you again.  Yeah.  That's right.  Time to get yourself a brainful of cat goodness.

Today I want to talk to you all about a disturbing trend: the shrinking importance of Thanksgiving.  Apparently this holiday doesn't mean anything anymore.  I remember a time when Thanksgiving was right up there Christmas.  Halloween took a back seat and New Years wasn't even a twinkle in anybody's eye.  Turkey Day was one of the big dogs.  A Prime Time Player.  Now it's just a speed bump in the madcap rush to fling all your cash away before December 25th.

Seriously, what happened here?  Obviously, commercialization is a big part of it.  There's pretty much only one big item that can be marketed for Thanksgiving: turkeys.  That's it.  Just big fat birds.  Christmas gives us more options for things to buy than anyone will ever possibly need.  Stores will dutifully hawk everything from toys to toasters.  Even unsold turkeys will find their way into Christmas ads.  So, obviously, Turkey Day takes a big back seat to Christmas.  However, it has even fallen behind Halloween in holiday prominence.  Again, Halloween offers more marketing opportunities.  Costumes, decorations, and candy versus turkeys.  Dead, plucked turkeys.  Christmas has candy too by the way.  There's just no demand for pumpkin pie flavored lollipops or turkey-shaped milk chocolate.  Maybe a marshmallow pilgrim?  No.  Thanksgiving needs a marketing makeover.

The other problem with Thanksgivings popularity is that there is no appeal to children.  For Christmas they get toys.  For Halloween they get candy.  For Thanksgiving they get... to eat.  They pretty much do that every day.  Probably things they like better than turkey and dressing.  Kids just don't find the same joy in sitting down with the entire family to have a meal.  Maybe Thanksgiving needs an activity to draw in the kids.  Maybe turkey-shaped pinatas filled with marshmallow pilgrim candy.

Really, though, it boils down to the point of the holiday.  Giving thanks.  That really doesn't seem to be trendy these days.  It's not glamorous like dressing up in crazy costumes or opening shiny packages.  Being thankful?  Nah.  It's too bad really, because these days we all have so much to be thankful for.  It's a shame that we can't all take a day out of our busy lives to appreciate that.  At this rate, the holiday should change it's name to Thanks-taking.  As in, "thanks for letting me take all of your money for Christmas".  Or maybe Banksgiving.  In the end, the only ones who really seem to take Thanksgiving seriously are the turkeys.  Especially if they survive it.

Back tomorrow with a little something I call "Fun with Captcha Words!"

Neyland D. Catt


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11 comments:

  1. Great post. I'm thankful for this post and for all my pet blogger furiends.

    Have a great day.

    Max

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  2. Loved this and I agree with you one zillion percent!

    I started seeing Christmas decorations in the stores in AUGUST!!

    I was like "what about Halloween, what about Thanksgiving?????"
    On Thanksgiving it appears that everyone just focuses on the food.....nobody in our "throw away society" seems to be very thankful....I love that you ARE!

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  3. great post - i agree dat Thanksgiving takes a back seat to Christmas and Halloween because dey are commercialized holidays. maybe Hallmark should start pushing Thanksgiving cards?

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  4. You make an interesting point, Neyland D. Cat. In Canada I'm not sure Thanksgiving was ever as big as Christmas. It helps that we hold it in October, before all that holiday spending.

    But I agree. We should all take more time to appreciate what we have.

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  5. I agree! Time needs to be made to celebrate Thanksgiving!
    -Corbin

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  6. I'm your newest follower from the Tuesday Hops! Come check out my blog at: http://adventuresofathriftymommy.blogspot.com/

    Have a great day!

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  7. I'm here from Tuesday Train. And, I'm so glad I came to YOUR blog. I loved this post and I couldn't agree more.

    I think it is up to us to make it the holiday it should be. There are so many crafts for children to do that open up the opportunities to discuss thankfulness and giving with them.

    Nice job!

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  8. You have made an excellent, and very serious, point. I find it sad, too, with all the commercialism and loss of true meanings (and gratitude!)
    I'm truly thankful to know you :)

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  9. I agree with you on this. We didn't live very close to any of our relatives and Thanksgiving was the holiday we went to our grandparent's house. It was a big deal.

    Thanks for linking up with us on the train ride this week! We are looking forward to seeing you next week!

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  10. Great post! Thanksgiving is still a big holiday with our family but I completely see what you mean. I think you have a good point that commercialization has a big role in it. So sad!

    New follower from WW, hope you can stop by and follow back. Thanks!

    http://chalkboardstostrollers.blogspot.com/p/todays-blog-hops.html

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  11. I've noticed that too...it seems like Christmas items are already starting to encroach on Halloween. Target's been breaking them out the day after Halloween.

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