Year after year, the Christmas season starts sooner and sooner, slowly taking over the fall months. The warm family gatherings found on Thanksgiving day are being overlooked due to the new commercialization of Christmas—it’s tough to get into the fall spirit with comically large inflatable Santa’s seeping into every hardware store. The only part of the Thanksgiving season that companies remember is Black Friday, yet somehow even the massive discounts are losing its hold on the American people. In years’ past, people used to wait until after the turkey was eaten before decorating their Christmas trees, but now the holiday spirit is a gift that keeps on giving—even before December.
Thanksgiving, like independence day, is an all American holiday, and one that should be celebrated as such. But in the past few years, it seems that Christmas has adopted America’s drive of manifest destiny, expanding its domain into the fall season which was previously attributed to turkeys and pumpkin pie. People are forgetting what Thanksgiving is all about: coming together as a family, watching football, and sharing a meal with those you’re thankful for. Now, it’s not even possible to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade without Santa and his elves stealing the show.
This isn’t to say Christmas is a bad holiday, it’s very far from it. In fact, Christmas is very similar to Thanksgiving: Gathering around a tree instead of a table, opening gifts rather than carving the turkey, and spending time with your loved ones. However, while some Christmas traditions have a lot in common with Thanksgiving, this is not why Christmas is hoarding all the attention: Christmas is no longer a time for goodwill, it has in fact become a profit-seeking machine, a vehicle for marketing teams around the world to rake in media attention. Presents are all about what you get, not about the meaning behind it. Instead of bundling up near the fire and sharing memories, we often find ourselves binge-watching Hallmark movies alone in bed—which is fine if balanced with other festive activities.
We often find ourselves spending more and more money during Christmas each year, and the majority of our hard-earned paycheck is not all spent on the gifts we give to others: need some toilet paper? Why not get the roll with Santa’s face on it! In fact, while you’re at it, go ahead grab the toilet paper holder that plays “Jingle Bells” when pulled. Every mall and every store is reeling consumers in to buy items we already have, but more festive, expensive versions.
Companies want to make more money every year than they did the year before, because stagnation looks bad to shareholders, and the best way to get customers in stores is to roll out the red and green carpet as soon as possible. If corporations aren’t criticized for their greed, we may start seeing Reindeer inflatables while trick or treating, and Black Friday deals on last minute Christmas shopping sprees. If we want to revive our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and give Christmas back its winter wonderland, we need to overthrow Santa Claus and bring back Jolly Old Saint Nick.