After Halloween, there are still nearly two months until Christmas, and yet, walking in the hallways, Christmas seems to be the only thing plaguing our minds. The decorations we’re hanging up, the presents we’re giving away, and the presents we
hope to receive. However, with the endless chatter about Christmas, it seems that people have forgotten about Thanksgiving; it is only mentioned because of the break we get, and not because it is the holiday meant for expressing gratitude to our loved ones. Thanksgiving is meaningful because it’s a time to show gratitude and love to our family and friends, so we want to leave enough room to celebrate it. In order to do so, decorating for holidays can wait until sometime after Thanksgiving, instead of right after Halloween. Sidney Albright ‘24 agrees, saying, “I think that once you can eat Thanksgiving leftovers, it’s time to bring out the Christmas decorations.”
However, Christmas presents are a different story. I’m sure we’ve all felt the stress of not knowing what presents to pick out for our loved ones, and this applies to not only Christmas, but birthdays, mother’s or father’s day, and any other occasion that requires gift-giving. Procrastinating to a week or even a few days before these events usually doesn’t work very well, and so presents should always be planned ahead of time.
This applies to Christmas – as long as the process of deciding what
gifts to choose doesn’t get in the way of Thanksgiving and other important holidays before Christmas, it’s definitely beneficial to start early. Hannah Barisonzi ’26 jokes, “Once Christmas is done, I’ll start planning out presents for the next year.”
Thanksgiving is a very significant holiday because it allows us to reflect on all the things we are thankful for over a huge gathering with our family and friends. We shouldn’t let Christmas plans get in the way of appreciating our loved ones. Even with schoolwork and other daily stressors, we should think of Thanksgiving not only as a break from these things but as a valuable period to really show gratitude to everything we value in life.
