Picture this: It’s November first, finally! Halloween has passed and you’re excited to start getting into the Christmas spirit. You get out your favorite decorations, make some hot cocoa, and start getting to work. You get into it as Mariah Carey guides you through your tree lighting and ornament hanging. After your house is fully decked out, you realize the forgotten truth: Thanksgiving still has to come first.

Thanksgiving has long been overshadowed by “The most wonderful time of the year”. Instead of celebrating gratefulness at dinner, everyone is counting down the days until they can open their presents from family. Even Thanksgiving specials, including Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, spend almost their entire air time alluding to the different aspects of the year’s biggest holiday. The Dubs are no different, and they have plenty of reasons why. 

To start, Christmas can create a lot more joy for teens than Thanksgiving. Some of us aren’t afraid to admit it: it can be nice to receive gifts instead of having to spend small amounts left over from a summer job. Sophomore Ellie Winslade agrees with this and gets excited about the gifts she gets every year. “I’m always grateful when I receive things that were on my list for months,” she said. “I really enjoy giving gifts too, especially to my family.”

It’s safe to say that some just don’t enjoy the food surrounding this holiday. Sophomore Reagan Lerner knows she just doesn’t enjoy sweet potatoes and casserole in the way she loves peppermint brownies. “Sometimes I just get bored of fall flavors,” she said. “By the time it’s Thanksgiving, smelling a pumpkin pie makes me feel like I’m in a Bath and Body Works!”

Some Dubs have plenty of ideas as to why this holiday rarely gets the same level of celebration. Sophomore Rhys Wills knows that good old ‘Merica loves an economically beneficial holiday and that Thanksgiving doesn’t really seem to fit. There isn’t much that is marketable about the holiday, and it is more family based rather than gift based. “There’s no music or decorations to excite us,” she said. “Other than the food, the holiday doesn’t push anything special to the market, and I guess that doesn’t impress the average American as Christmas does.”

It’s sad we forget about Thanksgiving just because it isn’t as big of a holiday. That said, Christmas is about giving and being grateful for family, so it isn’t all bad. So throw on some music, get to decorating, and have a happy holiday, Dubs! (Just don’t forget about Thanksgiving).