Why do YOU celebrate Thanksgiving?

1. 90

   peeplesposted 8 years ago

   Why do YOU celebrate Thanksgiving?
   
   Seems like a pointless day. Have holidays just become about food and gathering? If so aren't those things we should and can be doing year round?

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2. 96

   FatFreddysCatposted 8 years ago

   I get a day off from work to eat turkey and mashed potatoes. Seems legit to me.

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      RTalloniposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      And if the turkey is big enough, sandwiches on the weekend!

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3. 75

   aliasisposted 8 years ago

   Throwing a party, that is, putting together awesome food and getting together with family or friends, seems like exactly what a holiday should be about to me. The point of Thanksgiving is to think about the things you are thankful for and to count your blessings, so to speak. But honestly, making traditional harvest foods and having the relatives over is a perfectly legitimate holiday. I don't think it's really something that could be done year around, at least not regularly.

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      RTalloniposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Perfectly legitimate! 

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   2. 87

      Patty Inglish, MSposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Good thoughts! As a descendant of Mohawks I learned Indigenous North American tradition, even farther south, there is  thanksgiving every month during the week of the full moon.  Direct family is all deceased, but I think re: history and celebrate.

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4. 89

   lisavollrathposted 8 years ago

   I had a bad relationship with holidays as a child, because I had a mother with expectations of perfection. As an adult, I've always been sort of anti holiday. For me, Thanksgiving is a day to stay in my jammies, cook lots of food, snuggle up with my dogs, and watch movies, which, since I work at home, I could pretty much do any day. I don't enjoy gatherings focused on specific holidays, so I don't attend them.
   
   So, I guess I don't celebrate Thanksgiving.

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      RTalloniposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It's helpful to find a place of compassion in our hearts for those who failed their roles in our lives.  To be thankful for finding that place is a reason to celebrate!

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5. 48

   Ericdierkerposted 8 years ago

   We celebrate by giving extra thanks. My wife is an immigrant and we have a lot to be thankful for, for the first thanksgiving. From where she came there is not the abundance that we have in all things. We are not stupid to the tragedies and ironies of our indigenous people, But we like to think that just for one day, folks gave thanks together for the bounty and friends. And we try to carry that on.
   The feast is just fun. We love the craziness of the kitchen and trying to get things just right - this year to a friends house as he wants to dazzle us with his culinary delights.
   But well into my 30's I was forced along to endure people whom I love who just could not relax and enjoy rather than stress for perfection in presentation. Yuk!
   We do give a lot of formal and informal thanks on a daily basis, but maybe that is just practice for the big fun days.

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      RTalloniposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Practicing for the big days is a great thought!

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6. 79

   Missy Smithposted 8 years ago

   I think Thanksgiving is a really good holiday. It is meaningful surrounded by family and friends, and being thankful just for that is a great feeling.
   
   
   I have to admit, the holiday that does get me a little down is Christmas. It has lost its value. It has become more about getting a perfect gift and how many, rather than the company, and Jesus's birthday celebration.
   
   
   Most holidays are great. I wish Christmas would go back to be simple and pleasant too. However, Thanksgiving is really valid! It's simple fun and simple pleasure! It's what all holidays should be.

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      RTalloniposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Keeping things simple surely helps make them pleasant!

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7. 0

   RTalloniposted 8 years ago

   It's always good to consider this topic!  Reading hubs on gratefulness and random kindness helps one realize that there are many who try to remember and practice the concepts year round. 
   
   That said, the American Thanksgiving Day is rooted in the fact that a group of people escaped the religious persecution of other countries to live in a place where they were free from a government that gave them the choice of loss of property/loss of money/prison/death, or of following the government's mandates on religion. Today, that those people are openly mocked does not change the facts.
   
   While it is a huge mistake to romanticize the Pilgrims' and the Puritans' efforts/journeys beginning in the early 1500s, as well as their lives in the early 1600s, there is no mistaking that their growing pains led to the founding of our Republic, the United States of America, in the later 1700s.  This Republic's unique development began to lead people in Europe, and consequently around the world, to work towards more freedom in their nations.  Today, this Republic still challenges oppression in other nations, especially for the poor, and for women and children.
   
   Though an imperfect nation from the get go, there are many benefits peoples of the past and of today have because of the efforts to establish this free society.  For instance, human sacrifice has been all but abolished among indigenous cultures here and around the world, the practice of female mutilation is still an ongoing battle in too many cultures but now it is publicly challenged, various slaveries throughout the world are now openly opposed, and there are a substantial number of other large and small changes in entrenched issues that we could discuss.
   
   Failures within the effort to establish and grow this Republic are no surprise, but to begin studying the topic from the perspective of truth is a real need for many.  That we can still openly discuss it, refer to early writings to get a grip of what Founders worked towards, and to halt regular life by enjoying a special holiday to focus on being thankful for all we now take for granted is a good thing. It is a great lot to be thankful for, and something we should encourage.   
   
   Thanks for asking because thinking your question through has refreshed my mind on the why behind this holiday.  Before Thanksgiving Day you might enjoy the article by Mark David Hall, Ph.D. titled "Did America have a Christian Founding?", along with the The Federalist Papers.

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8. 70

   dashingscorpioposted 8 years ago

   To some extent all holidays are about friends and family gathering while having food and spirits. For some people if it weren't for holidays they'd never take the time to spend with family or count their blessings.
   I actually prefer Thanksgiving over Christmas which is become completely commercialized.
   Maybe that's why we have other holidays such as Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Valentine's Day to get people to show some appreciation.

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      RTalloniposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Good thought on how the holidays help us stop and consider the appreciation we should have and express.

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