It's Thanksgiving people....

After what seemed to be the fastest summer I have ever lived through, we find ourselves here, in November, just a couple weeks before Thanksgiving.  The problem...someone forgot about Thanksgiving and skipped from Halloween to Christmas...let me explain (as I always do). 

I think it was August (even before Halloween or Labor Day for that matter!) that I first caught a glimpse of Christmas trees, I think it was Hobby Lobby.  I've known over the past 20 years or so, that retailers tend to push Christmas on us earlier and earlier, but is it just me or does this year seem far worse?  I remember back in the day when school started in the Fall and it seemed like forever until Halloween.  After Halloween, Thanksgiving was a far off thought on the horizon, and well Christmas ...we had months to go, it seemed.  Thanksgiving did finally role around and THEN, and only then did any talk of Christmas begin.  I remember spending the afternoon of Thanksgiving, after the table had been cleared, with the Wish Books spread out on the table, where I would diligently turn page by page, making my list of wanted items.  I would always include the item number, page number and of course color (if that were an option), I would leave no doubt as to what it was I would be expecting to see under that tree come Christmas morning.  The tree didn't go up until well into December and then came the annual viewing of claymation Christmas specials.  I don't think there were any of those sappy Hallmark Channel Holiday movies!  Here is my opinion....The Holidays were much more special then, because they were something that you looked forward to and you enjoyed during that time.  Nowadays we (I) grow weary of it being 24/7 beginning November 1 (yes, we have already endured an entire weekend of Hallmark Holiday movies), and by the time the day actually rolls around...you're over it.  December 26, we're ripping down the trees and moving on.  So, here is my challenge to everyone.  Anticipate Thanksgiving, savor the turkey and all the fixings, then on November 25, go full throttle into Christmas...that gives you 30 days of Christmas and that my friends is plenty of Christmas.  I do understand that if you're knitting Christmas sweaters for your entire family, you may need to think about Christmas before November 25, so get busy.