Thanksgiving and Christmas, being about a month apart, are temporally related. However, they are celebrated in drastically different ways. Do you like one holiday more than the other?
Share why if you wish.
Thanksgiving Or Christmas?
Asking — and answering — life's interesting questions
Thanksgiving and Christmas, being about a month apart, are temporally related. However, they are celebrated in drastically different ways. Do you like one holiday more than the other?
Share why if you wish.
I have a lot of trouble choosing between these two holidays in ahistorical and non-religious senses. But truth be told, culturally, I celebrate both of them in precisely that way. Given that, my choice is Thanksgiving.
It is, in fact, my favorite holiday of all. By nature, I am a person who likes to express gratitude as well as praise people for doing good or accomplishing things — big and small. Thanksgiving is the time of year when a lot of people join me in the act of giving thanks and showing appreciation in heartfelt ways.
Being a non-religious person, I prefer the secular holiday, Thanksgiving. Although I certainly understand that there is a non-religious aspect to Christmas that appeals to people, with the gift-giving, decorating the house and a tree, and so on.
Christmas does have an advantage that it is an entire season — some would say from Thanksgiving on to Christmas Day, some might say even longer. And there is more pageantry. There are no Thanksgiving carols, for instance.
But setting aside a day just for appreciating what you have and sharing with others hits me right in the sweet spot. Thanksgiving wins.
I don’t celebrate either, so don’t have any preference.
Christmas has always been a bigger deal than Thanksgiving for me. When I was a kid, I looked forward to the presents. Our church and even our public school had a Christmas pageant. I think I was one of the Wise Men one year. We always had a real Christmas tree, and I remember how good it smelled and looked. Often, we celebrated with my grandparents, and sometimes with aunts, uncles and cousins.
Now our family still gets together for Christmas, has a special meal, and exchanges presents. Some of us attend church on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. In recent years, for me the weeks leading up to Christmas are filled with anticipation of the coming of Christ here and now. We not only celebrate Christ’s birth two thousand years ago, but his rebirth in and with us each Christmas. One of his names is Emmanuel, which means God with us. What could be better?
p.s I forgot to mention the beautiful Christmas music.