Thanksgiving should not be ignored

It’s time to take Thanksgiving back. Year after year, it seems like there’s a glitch in the calendar that sends us directly from Halloween to Christmas.

Sometimes there’s no space in between to breathe. As I was making a last-minute run to Walgreens to pick up some Halloween candy, I looked around at all the inflatable Santas and light-up reindeer that greeted me.

We can’t even wait until Halloween is over? What about Thanksgiving, the all-American holiday when friends and families get together to eat until their pants don’t fit and watch a football game?

But perhaps that is where the problem lies. Thanksgiving is all about family and being grateful for what you have.

There are no Thanksgiving cards, no cornucopia carols, no places to take a picture with a mall turkey, and we all know grandma didn’t get run over by a pilgrim.

The most commercial aspect would be those cute, overly-advertised pilgrim salt and pepper shakers. Even the grandest event of the day, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, ends with jolly old Saint Nick ushering in the Christmas season, making Thanksgiving seem obsolete.

Alas, corporations skip the holiday altogether since there isn’t any money to make. How could we let this happen?

Starbucks already has snowflakes on their cups and the malls are putting up Christmas trees. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, but give Thanksgiving its time to shine.

Let’s take a breath before plunging into the winter madness, take a step back, and be thankful for everything we have and all the people we appreciate.

Don’t let gifts and visions of sugar plums cloud your mind and turn you into a raging gift-buying lunatic. Take the time to go home, see your family and tell them how much you love them.

Take part in a holiday not filled with gifts or wish lists, but one that focuses on family and enjoying what you do have. Then there’s just one thing left to do: Stuff yourself fatter than any bird on the table. Eat up and enjoy this noble holiday.

Ashley Martinez is a freshman majoring in journalism.