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- a near complete absence of Thanksgiving themed decorations in local stores; even paper plates, napkins and tablecloths
- Christmas decorations are displayed and sold prior to Halloween (where are the Thanksgiving items?)
- from listening to multiple conversations, it seems that no one under the age of 60 serves as the Host or primary cook for the traditional family Thanksgiving dinner. In many cases 80+ year-old family matriarchs are still expected to handle this chore!
- the Thanksgiving Weekend has degraded into a Wednesday night Bar Scene, followed by a four-day shopping event
My wife and I are projecting that within another generation, Thanksgiving Weekend will exist only as a four-day shopping weekend for Christmas, following a practice run for New Year's Eve drinking.
It's a day off work for me, as is today and there is plenty of NFL football on- so LONG LIVE THANKSGIVING.
And on a serious note, it's a good holiday because it is about stopping and thanking God for what you have. A good thing.
Don't forget football. So many people attend games that day. I was wondering how the players felt about that.
I don't see how football is an indication that Thanksgiving is a dying holiday. On the contrary, it has been one of the most traditional aspects of Thanksgiving for the past century. The NFL has played games on Thanksgiving ever since its inception in 1920.
- a near complete absence of Thanksgiving themed decorations in local stores; even paper plates, napkins and tablecloths
- Christmas decorations are displayed and sold prior to Halloween (where are the Thanksgiving items?)
- from listening to multiple conversations, it seems that no one under the age of 60 serves as the Host or primary cook for the traditional family Thanksgiving dinner. In many cases 80+ year-old family matriarchs are still expected to handle this chore!
- the Thanksgiving Weekend has degraded into a Wednesday night Bar Scene, followed by a four-day shopping event
My wife and I are projecting that within another generation, Thanksgiving Weekend will exist only as a four-day shopping weekend for Christmas, following a practice run for New Year's Eve drinking.
None of the bullets really apply in our case
Our family gets together each Thanksgiving somewhere back in our home roots area. The younger generation does the cooking, son & son in law fried the turkey my daughter and daughter in law did all else. I let the grandchildren entertain me and kept conversation with my 90 year old mother going.
It wasn't a matter of decorations or matching plates but was a family get together and it probably will continue at some level in the generation upcoming. We kept a bonfire going, marshmallows and all. Some football and today the exodus to each home begins
However, these Thanksgivings are much more informal than those I hosted in my day. And shopping isn't a big thing with us. And there will be Christmas concerts and displays in our home locations. We all live in different places so maybe that is why Thanksgiving is a family thankful get together.
So don't give up hope, maybe Thanksgiving is changing and evolving but will still be here in a form
I don't think it's the Norman Rockwell painting of the family unit sitting around the dinner table anymore. Everyone is too busy being self absorbed glued to their machines.
For me, the only bullet in the OP that is correct is that Christmas decorations were out right after Halloween. Thanksgiving isn't a big decorating holiday, so that's understandable. I see plenty of fall themed wreaths, centerpieces, paper plates, tablecloths, potholders, kitchen towels, etc in the stores along-side the Christmas stuff. I put up general fall decorations (autumn leaves, pumpkins, cornucopia, etc, not scary Halloween type) in early October and they stay up until a day after Thanksgiving.
Our family had always gotten together as one big group, but that got to be unwieldy when it reached 3-4 generations and in excess of 25 people. It's hard to seat that many folks, so it started to break down into smaller nuclear family groups. Which was just as well since my brothers and I were getting tired of footing the whole bill and doing most, if not all, of the cooking. Now the generation behind us...the early 40-late 30's age group are hosting smaller dinners, and it's hard because we can't attend all of them, and sometimes that was the only time each year that we might see the grand-nieces and grand-nephews. But between multiple dinners on Thursday and Friday, and the various Christmas get-togethers, we are managing. Now that I'm out of state, I only get to attend in years that I fly home. We have Thanksgiving now with the good friends we've made here in TN.
I think Thanksgiving will soon surpass Christmas as family get-together time. It's secular and no gift-giving stress, either. It's all about FOOD...that's a good thing. And giving thanks, another good thing.
I've been retired 15 years but I see more and more family/friends who are in the workforce getting more and more time off at Thanksgiving. When I worked it was a one-day holiday. About 10 years ago it became a 4 day weekend with Friday almost universally a holiday.
This year, one of my niece's office closed all day Wednesday; 2 other relatives said half-day Wednesday is common closing time for the past few years.
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