Looking at Thanksgiving and Christmas clearly from a marketing standpoint and not looking at the original intent of each holiday, we all need to admit that both holidays tend to be stressful, and for all the wrong reasons. When we take our eyes off of the true meaning of both, we can see why. Thanksgiving is a time where it is required to make a large meal and spend time with family, whether close or nearby. There are certain menu items that we feel traditionally, that we need to buy. If Aunt Bea doesn’t have her cranberry sauce or Uncle Joe doesn’t get your infamous pumpkin pie they will be livid! Or will they? Sometimes we put unrealistic expectations on ourselves because all of the commercials, advertising, television shows, and movies that are presented this time of year place those expectations on us. Hallmark makes it clear that our children will have a miserable Christmas if they do not have a Christmas tree or decorations flooding the house. We want our kids to have a wonderful Christmas and even if our definition of “wonderful” allows for frugality, it still is tempting at times to want to spend more money than needed this time of year. Stress can come when we look at the bank account and there not enough money to buy the kids the gifts on their wishlist. Stress can come when we commit to every, single party that we are invited to. Stress can also come when we place unrealistic expectations on ourselves as to what Thanksgiving and Christmas really mean.
When we look at Thanksgiving, what do we see? A chance to buy items at low prices? We also put unrealistic expectations on ourselves during this holiday. If the thought of Thanksgiving makes your head spin then you know what I’m talking about. Instead of dishing out more than we should this Thanksgiving, let us truly take the time to remember why we are pausing this time of year. Let’s remember that when the first feast was celebrated, much of the celebration stemmed from the fact that there was a successful harvest that year. The pilgrims who had traveled from a foreign land did not know how to tend the land properly to grow food for themselves. They needed the help of the locals and after some trial and error they succeeded. The celebration in fact was a celebration of life. For the ones that had survived, they had a renewed hope that they would be able to continue to not only survive but thrive in this new environment where they had hoped to call home. The food that they feasted upon was literally the fruit of their own hands.They not only gained food to sustain themselves but they now had the know-how.
Now, when we celebrate Thanksgiving, it is not usually a result of enjoying the food we planted ourselves but we are able to enjoy the fruit of the labor of those who went before us. We now have the freedom to work in this country, freedom of religion, and the freedom to home educate our children. Let us not remember all the amazing freedoms we have this season instead of allowing the stress of it all to consume us!
