Saving Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving usually marks the beginning of the Christmas season (Black Friday).  Yet when I went into the local department store, after Halloween, I saw Christmas goodies all over… everywhere!  Christmas trees, stockings, santa and elves were displayed everywhere. Where did Thanksgiving go, I wondered.

Off I went to the household goods section of the store in pursuit of a white, traditional platter to put my traditional Thanksgiving turkey on at the traditional family dinner.  You know – the one that is oval shaped, pilgrims and pumpkins in the middle and nuts and other outdoor scenes encircling the rim.  I looked through all the brand name and store brand collections and to my dismay I found plenty of Santa and Christmas tree shaped platters but not a single one with my much sought after Thanksgiving motif.  Not to be be out done, I asked the nice, friendly assistant if I had, perhaps, overlooked the Thanksgiving platters.  “Oh!  Let me check.  I think I saw one on the discount table on yesterday.  We usually put a few of those out after Labor Day and what doesn’t sell by Veterans Day, we put them away for the next year.”

By now, not only am I disappointed, I am seriously concerned that we have merged Thanksgiving with Christmas and (you guessed it) Christmas won the battle of the market share race.

Lesson learned:  next year, shop early for my Thanksgiving wares and maybe, just maybe, I can save Thanksgiving.