Merry Christmas Eve, readers! Every year, it does seem like there are always the quintessential comments from friends and family: "Wow, it's already Christmas?"....."Didn't it seem like it was just Thanksgiving?" I think most of these comments are from people who feel unprepared for the holiday: they haven't finished up shopping and wrapping, or don't know what they're fixing for dinner. No matter how you do (or don't celebrate) Christmas, my point here is that is simply was a shortened season and came way too fast!
I didn't get the memo that the "rule" of Thanksgiving always being the 3rd Thursday of the month had changed back to the last Thursday of November. Abraham Lincoln officially made Thanksgiving a holiday and it was always the last Thursday of the month....until Franklin D. Roosevelt became president. Here's a synopsis from Wikipedia:
But in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke with this tradition. November had five Thursdays that year (instead of the more-common four), and Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving rather than the fifth one. Although many popular histories state otherwise, he made clear that his plan was to establish the holiday on the next-to-last Thursday in the month instead of the last one. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought an earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would help bring the country out of the Depression.
While some today would call this greedy or pulling from the true spirit of Christmas, it made sense at the time. For me, though, it's not about extra time to shop and wrap presents. It is more about the enjoyment of the season. I love driving around and looking at Christmas light with my kids. I even love just walks through our neighborhood, peering through windows at trees and seeing the decorations. We help out those in need, such as gifts for those less fortunate. We bake cookies. We watch our favorite Christmas movies.
Now, I know a lot of these activities can happen after the actual date of December 25th. But it's a significant celebration for a lot of people; is it so wrong to want an extra week to savor it?
Have a great Christmas!
