Thanksgiving is Underrated. | Maxine Mah

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article do not reflect the opinions of Pulse Magazine as a whole.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know if anyone else can smell pine trees in the air. Or the scent of freshly baked Christmas cookies. Or even a newly wrapped iPhone 13 your parents tried so desperately to hide under the tree. Maybe it’s just the fact that November first has finally passed and that it’s socially acceptable to play Mariah Carey on the radio again. Or maybe, it's the fact that everyone has moved on from Halloween and onto Christmas.

It’s safe to say that everyone loves the holidays. Free gifts, good food, family, and just the overall happiness of being out of school for a little over three weeks can sound like the best part of the year for some of us. But what we actually don’t realize, as we take down our Halloween decorations and throw those rotting pumpkins away, is that we completely miss one of the best holidays ever: Thanksgiving.

While this holiday definitely has some of its controversies — A.K.A. the whole founding premise of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans coming together to celebrate the first winter — it shouldn’t be glossed over during the transition of holidays. Far too many times have I seen people skip over Thanksgiving and disregard it as just another break from school. It’s a joyous time spent with family, eating good food, and then shopping to your heart’s content the day after — who doesn’t love that?

Halloween is one night. After October 31st, spooky season is over and we forget it ever existed. Christmas is superficial. It’s only about the things you receive and how much value they are to you at the current moment. As for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, I personally don’t celebrate those, so I have no valid opinions regarding its ranking upon the other holidays. Valentine’s Day is practically entirely made up and has no real value as a celebration. Easter is another holiday I don’t celebrate. In conclusion, sitting around a dinner table, surrounded by the people who love and care about you the most, eating pumpkin pie (the best creation of mankind), and then shutting down into a food coma, only to wake up and spend the rest of the day burning off the calories you just consumed by running around a mall getting the best deals possible on cute winter clothing, is superior to any other holiday I can think of.

Year after year I am disheartened by the lack of excitement for my favorite holiday. Our society constantly skips over Thanksgiving and goes right onto the winter celebrations, as if nothing happens in the month of November. And don’t get me wrong, I’m all for free gifts and a two week break, but Thanksgiving needs to receive the love it deserves. Hasn’t anybody heard the song “Sleigh Ride”? You know, the one that goes “Just hear those sleigh bells jingling ring-ting-tingling too.” THAT SONG IS LITERALLY ABOUT THANKSGIVING. Ever wonder why they sing, “When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie, It'll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives”? Pumpkin pie? Coffee? That sounds very Thankgiving-esque to me. And yet again, we disregard it and turn it into a Christmas song.

While I do enjoy a play of “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey from time to time, what I enjoy even more is cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and a fat turkey in the middle of the table. So while everyone skips over Thanksgiving as if it’s just another rock in the road on the way to Christmas, just remember that you definitely won’t be getting a slice of pumpkin pie from me this year.