If you take a walk down the seasonal aisle at your favorite department store, you just might notice that the Halloween and fall stock have been replaced with a winter wonderland display of Christmas and winter decor. Although it seems like just yesterday we were craving pumpkins, trick or treating for Halloween, and reaching the very beginning of fall, the radio stations are now blasting with Mariah Carey and Michael Buble. With everything else, it seems as if Christmas is just around the corner, but wait… We’re missing something: Thanksgiving, a holiday that many seem to skip and view as less important. Because Thanksgiving is right between the beloved Halloween and Christmas, many choose to jump right over it. Why is it that people skip Thanksgiving? 

To many people, Thanksgiving isn’t a big deal. Reasons can vary from entertainment, financial, or even just aesthetic. The entertainment industry highly promotes Halloween and Christmas by dedicating movies and songs just to those holidays. For example, new horror movies and thrillers always promote and release around the month of October which helps people to enter into a spooky spirit, and with Christmas, there are endless small-town Hallmark movies to warm up your hearts and defrosting of the Mariah Carey songs you listened to the last this time of year. However, for Thanksgiving, there isn’t entertainment created for it. Can you name on the top of your head one movie, TV show, or song that revolves around the theme of Thanksgiving? I surely can’t. Maybe the holiday would be celebrated more if there was music for it.

Another reason for skipping over Thanksgiving is because of finance. Most families will be spending a ton of money in the month of December because of Christmas and New Years’ expenses like presents and decor so for many, it just doesn’t make sense budget-wise to be lavishing out for a “smaller” holiday like Thanksgiving where the celebration doesn’t last as long. From a recent Personal Capital survey, it is reported that 22% of Americans plan to skip thanksgiving this year in order to save money. 

Lastly, another reason why some choose to skip Thanksgiving is simply because of the aesthetic. In a conversation with my fellow classmates, many claimed that they prefer to just decorate for Christmas right after Halloween because of the pleasing aesthetic of the holiday. Department stores start to sell cute fun winter decor the second November hits. This sales time frame doesn’t leave much of a chance for people to be buying and decorating for Thanksgiving using little decor turkeys, cornucopia, and fall leaves. In addition, “You get presents on Christmas and a longer break” expressed Kaelyn McCulloch (9). It appears that much of the younger generation also agrees with the idea of skipping Thanksgiving. 

Whether you plan on skipping or celebrating Thanksgiving, it’s a personal choice. The meaning of the holiday is to be thankful for what you have and for those around you. As long as you are grateful for all the blessings in your life, every day can be like Thanksgiving, so you don’t have to give your thanks on only one day a year. So… what do you think?  What is the main reason we as a society skip Thanksgiving?