Thanksgiving Is The Best Holiday, Don't You Dare Skip It

Despite everyone’s insistence on ripping down the fake cobwebs on Nov. 1 to replace them with twinkling lights and candy canes, Thanksgiving still exists. That last little Thursday in November, with its warm tones and cornucopia decor, has been overlooked for decades. And while some will argue that it gets all it needs in the week leading up to Turkey Day, I can not rest until everyone knows: Thanksgiving is actually the best holiday, and I think you’d all be a little bit happier if you’d just accept that.

Let me explain.

I know you’re going to tell me that “people who decorate for the holidays earlier” are happier. I know you’re going to get all up on your high (reindeer) horse and tell me to “just let people enjoy things.” I know you’re going to share that study on Christmas music reducing blood pressure.

And sure, all of that is true.

But the Venn diagram of people who jump straight to Christmas from Halloween and the people who are ripping down their family’s stockings the morning after Christmas because they “can’t stand the clutter” anymore is a giant, gaping hole.

If you would just actually celebrate Thanksgiving, you could avoid all this.

Because Thanksgiving is the best holiday. It’s all the pomp and circumstance of the Christmas season without all of the pressure. Sure, you’ve got to figure out your plans for the day, and if you’re hosting (I’m right there with you), maybe you’re feeling a little overwhelmed. But here’s the thing: You aren’t figuring out gifts. You aren’t loading your house up with Amazon packages and wrapping paper. You aren’t trying to finalize Thanksgiving plans while attending 18 school holiday functions in the same week. You aren’t rushing around to find matching Thanksgiving Day pajamas or scheduling last-minute $300 photos with a turkey on the back of a pickup truck in a field.

Then there’s the actual holiday, which is far more peaceful and lovely than Christmas Day. Thanksgiving Day is about food and being together. That’s it. Every year on Christmas, my mom and I want all of us to play board games and to sit around and talk and just enjoy each other’s company, but by the time all seven grandkids, us three kids and our spouses, and our parents all do dinner and open presents, everyone’s exhausted and ready to go home again.

On Thanksgiving? There’s time. Time for board games and card games. Time for trivia and watching a movie together piled on the couch. Time for second slices of pie and extra cups of coffee and piling up the leftovers because it’s only November and nobody’s sick of turkey and cranberry sauce yet.

And on Thanksgiving? There’s still the anticipation of Christmas. Of more to come. The excitement of that sparkly, wonderful season is right there, and Thanksgiving — smack dab in between Halloween and Christmas — gives you that perfect moment amidst all the hustle and bustle. You can just freeze right there, enjoying your family, thinking ahead to stocking stuffers without being panicked by them, knowing that once Thanksgiving break is over, everything will go full speed ahead... but for now. You’re there. On Thanksgiving Day. And it’s just the best place to be.

So sure, go ahead and listen to your Christmas music. Start your shopping and gathering your supplies. But don’t let Thanksgiving blow past you like it doesn’t matter. When Christmas is in full force and it’s Dec. 19 and you’re feeling overstimulated and ready for it to both be over and to slow down, you’ll wish you could have just one more hour at the Thanksgiving table — where everything is actually calm and bright.