Holiday season or Holy Day season? Maybelle Crabtree here. “Mom!” Laurel shouted as she entered the house after school one time so long ago. “It’s the holiday season. We have to start making our lists. We don’t want to wait until the last minute.”
I stopped folding the bath towels. “Holiday season? Who told you that? Halloween was just a couple of days ago. Christmas is still a couple of months away. There’s plenty of time for all of that.”
“No, Mom,” she corrected me. “Susie says the holiday season begins on November first.”
Oh, Susie Kramer. My next door neighbor, Mary Sue’s, daughter. That explains it. (I wrote about Mary Sue before. You can read about her by clicking here.) “Well, in this house, the holiday season which we call the Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving. And not a day sooner.”
“But, Mom…”
“No buts to me, young lady. No go get a snack and then start your homework.” I went back to my folding. Holiday season. What will they think of next? But it makes since because as soon as Halloween is over the Christmas decorations, lights, and carols instantly appear overnight. But they’re not called that anymore. Everything now is holiday – holiday songs, holiday trees, holiday movies, and “happy holidays” greetings. Nobody wants to offend anyone anymore.
Unfortunately, amid the shuffle of the shopping, feel-good movies, and pictures with Santa Claus, the whole reason and meaning of Christmas gets lost. Even the word “holiday” has been hijacked by the secular world that we live in. You see the word “holiday” is actually short for “holy day” which is any day that is sacred and dedicated to God. And in the Crabtree household that is exactly what we do. And we include Thanksgiving as well
Not Holiday but Thanksgiving Holy Day
Yes, on Thanksgiving we do watch football and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But we also remember that very first Thanksgiving Day where the Mayflower bunch celebrated with their new friends, the Native Americans. They all gave thanks to God for the successful harvest after a bitter, harsh, and cold winter.
When the morning and afternoon festivities are completed, our attention turned to a more solemn mood as we turned our attention to God. Tom would say a special prayer he wrote himself specifying special gratitude for the good and bad events which had occurred during the year. Then we would go around the table and each of us would give three blessings we were grateful for. Before we all disbursed from the table, Tom read Psalm 107 from the Bible as a reminder to always be grateful to the One who gives to us abundantly simply because He loves us.
For us, it was a tradition that ushered in the Advent which starts the Sunday after Thanksgiving. But I’ll talk about traditions in another blog. But for now, let the stress and anxiety of this holiday season begin whether you start on November 1 or the day after Thanksgiving. And when you’re out rushing around shopping for list items or drinking egg nog at a party, remember the true meaning around the upcoming Holy Day and give thanks to the One who makes it all possible. So what do you think? Holiday or Holy Day? November 1 or the day of Thanksgiving? Any Thanksgiving traditions? I’d love to hear about them. Click on the button below and let’s discuss. Maybelle Crabtree signing off.