Tuesdays with Media: Lost in the shuffle

Where are the Thanksgiving songs?  Why aren't stores overflowing with Thanksgiving-themed decorations?  What about Thanksgiving-specific clothes or Thanksgiving candy?

I'm sure you've noticed that as far as holidays go, Thanksgiving is sort of a footnote these days.  Sure, we get special time off from work and school and we have traditions associated with the holiday, but it's largely ignored by retailers.  If you follow holidays according to what displays you find at department stores and grocery stores, we go straight from Halloween to Christmas.  This has been happening for years, but this year feels particularly extreme.

Usually, the Christmas displays start getting set up before the Halloween stuff is taken down, but there's usually a little bit of attention given to Thanksgiving.  This year, I haven't seen a single display reminding shoppers to buy turkey and pie and lots of side dishes.  It's just "Buy candy and costumes for Halloween!" and straight to "Buy presents for Christmas!"  I remember as a kid there were these Reese's Peanut Butter cups sold in the shape of a turkey -- those too are absent this year.

There are even sales that start on Thanksgiving.  We're all used to "Black Friday" sales going out of control, but they're so popular that stores are starting things even earlier.  Unfortunately, they're happening earlier and earlier because they're popular.  Basic supply and demand dictates that if people didn't go to these shopping events, stores would stop having them.  We as a population have decided that we like giving up Thanksgiving for a chance to get a good deal.

This is particularly troubling for me since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Yes, I love to cook and bake, but that's not why I love Thanksgiving.  I love Thanksgiving because the holiday is about being with family.  Even in 2013, when I spent Thanksgiving with the Simciks, I was still spending it with family, just family that I'm not related to by blood or marriage.  Thanksgiving is just about spending time together and relaxing.  Yes, we eat a big meal, but that's just an activity we're doing together.  There's no stress about gift-giving, like with Christmas, and since it's a cultural holiday rather than a religious one, we can say "Happy Thanksgiving" to people without worrying about offending them.  And, yes, I'm excited to bake the turkey again this year, but I'm more excited about for whom I'm baking it.

Too bad for the people that are giving that up, because it truly is their loss.