Are you into Thanksgiving?

This question is mostly for my fellow US DPers. What is the Thanksgiving Day to you? What exactly are you celebrating? Having an American wife, I, of course, celebrate Thanksgiving, but, as an assimilated citizen, I am not sure I am all that into it. I am not exactly sure, what I have to be thankful for. It wasn't the time of the writing of the Constitution, it wasn't the time of abolishing the slavery... What marks this holiday as being a really special one to you? Or is it some kind of mindless ritual?

 

It is one of the best holidays that we have here in the U.S. That's because it is more of a tradition of family, food, and fun than anything else. Originally, it was set up to remember the struggles of the Pilgrims right here in New England, but 200 years later, they are just people in funny hats to most of the population. What Thanksgiving is to most Americans these days is a day to eat a lot of food (especially, turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and so much more...), watch football games, nap, and argue with family members that you haven't seen since last year. There is no religious or political agenda, for the most part. In fact, I regularly wish people a "Happy Turkey Day" and never is offense taken by anyone.

It does serve a charitable purpose as this is a holiday in which we are supposed to count our blessings and help the less fortunate and it does seem to work. The bulk of charitable and food donations for the year for most charities come in between now and Christmas, so Thanksgiving is truly the start of the Giving Season for Americans.

Personally, I start looking forward to the food many weeks in advance. I love turkey and all of the trimmings! But the dessert table that arises out of seemingly nowhere a couple of hours later is a sight to behold. I expect to see pumpkin pie, apple pie, blueberry/cherry pie, pumpkin bread, brownies, a wide assortment of cookies, fudge, assorted salted nuts, cheesecake, cakes, cupcakes, and more. And that is just on my plate!

Now, that said, I do have to say that the holiday has gotten hijacked a bit by the Black Friday merchants who open their doors for special sales at midnight or earlier, thereby spoiling the holiday for retail workers and for guys like me who have to put up with the females in the household gearing up all day for their special ops missions to the stores to get bargains throughout the night. I would prefer that businesses not be allowed to open until 10:00am Friday morning to keep the holiday free for everyone.

 

Thank you jrbiz for your reply. I do see where you're coming from. I too look forward to eating all the exciting foods and desserts!

 

Oh boy. What I did not mention is that Thanksgiving is a very heavy travel holiday as families tend to get together to celebrate it. There is a big snowstorm coming into New England tomorrow (Wednesday) which is the big travel day for the holiday. I had planned to travel about 130 miles roundtrip tomorrow afternoon to pick up some family members and bring them back to the house. But given the forecast, I may be leaving before the sun rises tomorrow morning to beat the snow. We are also planning to buy the "perishables" (bread, etc.) today instead of tomorrow during the snowstorm. Thanksgiving (and Christmas) is a winter holiday and is subject to the variances of the weather.

 

This is funny, because just a moment ago I was planning to write here saying get ready for the big storm. It's raining pretty heavily where I am at. Doesn't feel that "Tis the season to be jolly" at all.

 

It does not feel like winter here today, either. The temp is going to hit 64F/18C this afternoon but the snow starts tomorrow morning! That means that the highest it can be then is 32F/0C. Big changes to come...

I just bought gasoline for the snowblower and the next step is to make sure we have windshield washer fluid and snow brushes/shovels in the cars. Last night I put up the snow markers on the edge of the lawn so that the big snowplows don't stray from the road and tear up my yard. Did this all in tee shirt and jeans because it is so warm right now. Tomorrow will bring parkas and scarves and mittens. I don't know why anyone lives in New England.

 

I and my family haven't miss a single Thanksgiving Day. We also pray before eating. btw I found a very funny geeky prayer. Link to the thread, where I share it: https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/unusual-places-to-find-copywriting-inspiration.2739793/#post-19084406
Link to source: http://softchamp.com/news/happy-thanksgiving/
PS: Everybody should celebrate it or at least say Thank You to everybody, who loves.

 

Tsk, tsk. But honestly I am not sure about this holiday nor Halloween or Valentines. I do know Thanksgiving trumps the other two but to me its about family, food, and being thankful but I still don't know why.

 

Yes, I am celebrating thanks Thanks giving day. Happy thanksgiving to all.

 

It is that on Thanksgiving Day each year, Americans give thanks to Almighty God for all His blessings and mercies toward us throughout the year.