THANKSGIVING

We need Christmas! That being said, today's post is actually going to center around Thanksgiving. 

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

Before we dive into that, I want to wish a happy Veterans Day to all the veterans in the United States. Thank you so much for your service. 

THE BIG DEBATE

Last year around this time I released a video that was a spoof of the old MovieTone newsreels.

THANKSGIVING FANS RESENT CHRISTMAS DECOR BEFORE THANKSGIVING

It brings up a really good point. You have people who love Thanksgiving and really resent Christmas being celebrated before they've had a chance to celebrate their holiday. 

I get it. My neighbors had a whole bunch of Halloween decorations up on their houses. But November 1st, the day after Halloween, several of them switched over to Christmas.

Really. No lie. Literally the day after Halloween they had their Christmas decorations up. For me, as a fan of Christmas, I loved it. But my wife is a big fan of Thanksgiving, so she didn't like it too much. 

A THANKSGIVING / CHRISTMAS COMPROMISE

Around here we have a special arrangement. I love to listen to Christmas music. In fact, I've been listening to Christmas music on and off since July.  Ok, it may have  been June this year.

But I don't listen to Christmas music when my wife is around. I can listent to it down  in my office or when I'm in my car. But if she is somewhere where she can hear it, I turn it off and put on something else because she doesn't want to hear Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving. 

It is the same thing with Christmas decorations. One of the reasons I do so many projects centering around Christmas is that it gives me the opportunity to decorate my office. But upstairs, you won't see Christmas decorations up right now. We  generally don't put them up until Thanksgiving or the day after to avoid Thanksgiving to be overshadowed. 

If you have a favorite holiday, the last thing you want is people to be moving on to the next big holiday and not even paying any attention to it. 

THE THANKSGIVING / CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

Here's the thing. Thanksgiving and Christmas are very closely related. They share so many similarities. 

BOTH CELEBRATE SEASON

First off, both of them have to do with celebrating seasons, right? At Thanksgiving, we're celebrating late fall. We have  the orange and the brown, reminiscent  of  the changing leaves. We have pumpkins and hay and scarecrows, all things related to late fall. 

Christmas falls  right after the start of winter. So a lot of the imagery centers around snow and renewal and cold and long nights. We are celebrating the season as part of Christmas.

BOTH INVOLVE GATHERING WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Both holidays involve gathering with family and friends. We visualize it as getting together in a warm environment with reddish lights and with fireplaces going. Everything looks so cozy and homey and we're together and hanging out with each other. 

AND WE EAT

And of course, we also eat.... a LOT. I don't even know why you would try to even think about losing weight during November and December. It's simply not going to happen. 

BOTH CENTER ON GRATITUDE

Both holidays center around gratitude. With Thanksgiving, it is literally in the name. We’re giving thanks for the blessings and everything that we received throughout the year. 

Christmas is also about gratitude because we give gifts to show people how much we appreciate them. And, as I mentioned yesterday, in the sacred traditions, we're giving thanks for the gift that God gave us in Christ, and ultimately the gift that Christ gave us in His crucifixion, resurrection and our salvation. 

So both holidays center around gratitude. 

BOTH ARE BIG ON TRADITION

They also are big holidays for tradition. Everybody has really strong traditions around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Whether that's how you decorate, the things you do, the things you eat. Everybody has traditions they really want to follow and integrate together because it reminds them of the holidays in the past and even from their childhood.

THE LITTLE SECRET

Here's a little secret. Thanksgiving, Christmas and really New Year's are all part of one giant arc to celebrate the end of the year. 

Thanksgiving gets us thinking about the blessings, the things that have happened to us this year. We appreciate our family and our friends, the connections that we have. It opens our heart up to appreciating everything about the Christmas season: peace on earth, good cheer, helping others, the renewal, and starting fresh.

That leads us into New Year's when we celebrate the beginning of a brand new year. 

So from Thanksgiving through Christmas through New Year's, we are getting ready to end one year and start a brand new year. Of course, it then  makes no sense to me why I find January to be one of the most depressing months of the year! It don't really last long, does it? 

TODAY'S CHALLENGE

My challenge for you today is this. Look at the traditions involved in Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Discover for yourself that end-of-year cycle. Realize that you're setting up to appreciate the year and getting ready to start a brand new year full of hope.

NEXT WEEK

Starting next week, each day I'm going to go into one individual tradition, story, Christmas carol or symbol and talk about it and how it can influence us during this season. 

Thank you for joining me on this journey and let's just have a great time here for the rest of the year. Remember, we need Christmas!

Have a great day!