by BEN HOSTETTER
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

There are green wreaths hanging in Cascades Café, large snow flake-shaped lights lining King Street, Christmas tunes playing on select radio stations and eight days till Thanksgiving.

Can anyone please tell me what’s wrong with this picture?

Is it the fact there are precisely 36 days till Christmas, eight days till Thanksgiving, and as a society we are paying more attention to the holiday that is furthest off instead of the one that is right around the corner?

We have a problem.

Now I know what you’re thinking. From the intro above you’ve already written me off as a “Grinch” who doesn’t appreciate Christmas, but that’s where you’re wrong. I enjoy Christmas just as much as the next guy with the loving atmosphere and true spirit it brings every year, but I also enjoy Thanksgiving.

Between Christmas trees being grown by the acre around here and Christmas decorations popping up in every store and lining every street, Christmas is shown much more love than Thanksgiving. That doesn’t settle well with me.

Thanksgiving is a time for people to give thanks for the good fortunes in their lives and enjoy the company of loved ones, and such a celebration of these things shouldn’t be overlooked.

Sure Thanksgiving isn’t a marketing dream like Christmas, with all the songs, gifts and decorations that go along with it. But like the red suit and white beard-sporting holiday, people are brought together for its celebration. Events that allow people young and old to relax and come together should be taken note of since they only happen but a few times a year.

What makes Christmas so special then with people making so much effort to advertise it way before December even arrives?

Unlike the turkey and stuffing based holiday, Christmas centers around love and giving instead of feasting and being grateful.

It’s true I believe love and giving should be held for celebration, but I don’t think anyone could fully grasp these concepts the day after Halloween when Christmas music starts cycling through radio stations. This leaves me to believe there are other motives for this push in holiday advertising.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Christmas, among other holidays, have been down played to the point where their true meanings have been overlooked by this nation’s ever-growing need to make a profit.

Christmas seems like just a clever ploy these days to make Americans spend money, and that explains why we are seeing traces of this December holiday as soon as the end of October arrives.

Money and greed shouldn’t be the reasons why we carry out these festivities year after year, and I’m ashamed as a nation we’ve let it get to this point. All holidays should be enjoyed with their original intent as the focus, and not what economic benefits come out of them.

I may have stated the obvious, but when you think about it, it’s the obvious that some of us have been missing when it comes to really why we celebrate the holidays we celebrate.

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