November. It is one of the busiest months of the year in my opinion. Halloween decorations are hastily taken down and replaced with Christmas trees and twinkle lights, and you can finally begin to acknowledge the Christmas items in Macys and TJMaxx that have been on the shelves since the first week of September. All the while, Thanksgiving is neglected and forgotten.
Thanksgiving is not the most exciting holiday especially compared to Christmas, but I’m still a believer in giving it the attention it deserves. I view Thanksgiving as a time to rejoice and get together with family. It’s a day to dress-up and catch-up on what we did over the summer, discuss our favorite Netflix series and what’s on our watchlist, eat delicious food and simply enjoy each other’s company. One can argue that these are all things you can do on Christmas. My defense to that argument is that Thanksgiving food trumps Christmas food.
The thought of turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing makes me salivate. Of course, I cannot forget the homemade apple pie, farm-made pumpkin pie, and delicious pumpkin bread that is set on the table after dinner. By that point, the button on my pants is ready to pop off but the aroma of sweet apples and cinnamon excites my hippocampus to the point that the only logical decision is to eat the pie. My family always hosts Thanksgiving and therefore we inevitably have leftovers for days. I never complain. Of course, Christmas has its perks with filet mignon (at least that is what my family makes) and gingerbread cookies, but Thanksgiving food has my heart.
I digress, enough food talk and more holiday talk. Once Halloween is over, many folks go straight into Christmas mode. While I love Christmas time, I hate going into Christmas mode that early. The reason for that is because I love fall. The second I start playing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” fall is officially over. This year in particular, I feel like we went from summer to semi-winter weather. We’ve had an exceptionally warm October and therefore the changing of the leaves has been delayed—further delaying my full enjoyment of the season. Now that we’re out of 70 degree weather, I can finally wear my oranges and reds with my suede boots nearly everyday. Fall is such an underrated season, similarly to Thanksgiving. There is so much beauty in the season and people only enjoy it for a week or two because they’re anticipating one single day in December that will be over within 24 hours.
Nearly everyone living in the metro-area has the “go, go, go” mentality. Our minds are moving a million miles a minute, planning the next big thing for tomorrow, next week, or next month. It is so easy to fall into the trap of looking ahead and forgetting to look at what’s in front of you. We are so tense because we are nervous about what tomorrow may or may not bring. I am guilty of it too. Take five minutes today and go for a walk outside. Don’t look at your phone and don’t listen to music. Simply observe your surroundings and clear your head. Just like some of us look forward to Christmas before Thanksgiving even occurs, slow down and appreciate the things along the way.
Senioritis is an Opinion column written by one or two Stevens student(s) in their last year of study to discuss life experiences during their final year at Stevens, and other related subject matter.
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