TexasEscapes.com HOME Welcome to Texas Escapes
A magazine written by Texas
Custom Search
New   |   Texas Towns   |   Ghost Towns   |   Counties   |   Trips   |   Features   |   Columns   |   Architecture   |   Images   |   Archives   |   Site Map


Columns

Counties
Texas Counties

Texas Towns
Texas Towns



Texas | Columns | "Quips and Salsa"

When Thanksgiving and Christmas Collide


by Jase Graves
Jase Graves

These days, we're all used to walking through retail stores in October and dodging Christmas displays of inflatable Baby Yoda yard art while we're still trying to find the perfect Halloween pumpkins to decompose on our front porches.

The real holiday season mashup controversy, though, emerges in November, when we try to determine when it's appropriate to start slipping our disks by dragging out the Christmas décor and festooning the living room with enough sparkly baubles to trigger our glitter jitters. Do we wait until we finish digesting our Thanksgiving giblets or move on into full-blown Yuletide beast mode?

I say go ahead and get jiggy with your tree trimming. Because let's face it. Thanksgiving, while a worthy exercise in expressing gratitude for our blessings by replacing all of our bodily fluids with gravy, is a little like a pre-game warmup for Christmas. In fact, you're likely to have some Thanksgiving leftovers mutating in your refrigerator when December 25 rolls around.

So why not combine the celebrations into a giant two-month carb-laden extravaganza? Besides, the two holidays already have a lot in common.

For instance, both involve eating until you doubt your self-worth and your digestive skills. Not only that, but we enjoy some of the same foods at Thanksgiving and Christmas-including that cranberry sauce that comes out of the can looking like a sunburned segment of a giant earthworm.

Both holidays also involve experiencing an entire year's allotment of family irritation within the space of around twelve hours. No wonder grandmother lives over the river and through the woods.

And that particular song reminds me that both holidays have classic Charlie Brown specials—the best! (I still think Snoopy deserves a good old-fashioned neutering.)

Most importantly, these celebrations give us a chance to thank the Lord for the greatest gift ever given to humanity. And I really don't think He gives a rip that Starbucks starts selling the Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino the first week of November.

I realize this philosophy will draw the ire of Thanksgiving purists who relegate Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, the Grinch, Scrooge, Ralphie in his pink bunny pajamas, Buddy the Elf, and Cousin Eddie in his bath robe to holiday quarantine until the clock strikes midnight after Turkey Day. (Ironically, these are probably the same folks who keep a forgotten string of elderly Christmas lights clinging to their houses for dear life year round.)

I've always loved both holidays and never could resist humming a few Christmas carols while unpacking our ceramic turkey salt and pepper shakers in early November. I've even been known to start putting out Christmas decorations, a few at a time, in the run-up to Thanksgiving, and no one seems to be bothered by it. (Then again, I'm pretty sure I could install a life-sized replica of Cousin Eddie's dilapidated RV in the middle of the living room, and my three teenage daughters wouldn't notice-unless it interfered with the WiFi.)

Yes, I agree that Thanksgiving is an important occasion and deserving of its own traditions (especially the pie), but I also believe in bipartisanship, and if Santa wants a seat at my Thanksgiving table, he is always welcome to an extra slice of canned cranberry sauce.


© Jase Graves
"Quips and Salsa" 11-15-21 column



Jase Grave's "Quips and Salsa" columns
Humor


  • Is there detention in Sunday school? 11-1-21
  • Make Halloween great again 10-18-21
  • School Project Management 10-4-21
  • College Football Fan Follies 9-20-21
  • Moving Heaven, Earth, and a Daughter to College 9-7-21

    more »


  • Related Topics:

    Christmas in Texas


    More Columns

    Texas Escapes Online Magazine »   Archive Issues » Home »
    TEXAS TOWNS & COUNTIES TEXAS LANDMARKS & IMAGES TEXAS HISTORY & CULTURE TEXAS OUTDOORS MORE
    Texas Counties
    Texas Towns A-Z
    Texas Ghost Towns

    TEXAS REGIONS:
    Central Texas North
    Central Texas South
    Texas Gulf Coast
    Texas Panhandle
    Texas Hill Country
    East Texas
    South Texas
    West Texas

    Courthouses
    Jails
    Churches
    Schoolhouses
    Bridges
    Theaters
    Depots
    Rooms with a Past
    Monuments
    Statues

    Gas Stations
    Post Offices
    Museums
    Water Towers
    Grain Elevators
    Cotton Gins
    Lodges
    Stores
    Banks

    Vintage Photos
    Historic Trees
    Cemeteries
    Old Neon
    Ghost Signs
    Signs
    Murals
    Gargoyles
    Pitted Dates
    Cornerstones
    Then & Now

    Columns: History/Opinion
    Texas History
    Small Town Sagas
    Black History
    WWII
    Texas Centennial
    Ghosts
    People
    Animals
    Food
    Music
    Art

    Books
    Cotton
    Texas Railroads

    Texas Trips
    Texas Drives
    Texas State Parks
    Texas Rivers
    Texas Lakes
    Texas Forts
    Texas Trails
    Texas Maps
    USA
    MEXICO
    HOTELS

    Site Map
    About Us
    Privacy Statement
    Disclaimer
    Contributors
    Staff
    Contact Us

     
    Website Content Copyright Texas Escapes LLC. All Rights Reserved