I've never been a big fan of Thanksgiving. Being vegetarian and not much of food person, makes it a holiday that's easy to care about. Living in
the UK makes that much easier to forget, because almost no one here
knows when it is and, just the other day, someone asked me what people
'do' for Thanksgiving; do people exchange gifts at all?
In late October, I went to Jenners because I was told that they are one of the few stores that sells canned pumpkin (I found a cheaper place to get it, but that's another story). I was surprised to see the beginnings of Christmas decorations already. It's late October, I thought, how come we have Christmas stuff already, what about Thanksgiving? Ah....no one cares about Thanksgiving, it hit me half a second later.
That's a minor bit of cultural difference that I have noticed this year, but oddly, not the past two years of my living in Edinburgh. I wonder if this means, I actually am missing Thanksgiving - that can't possibly be.
The Christmas advertisements start up in early November, people starting talking about shopping for Christmas gifts (something I hate doing - I'm using the word 'hate' here), Christmas parties start to be discussed, and the John Lewis annual Christmas TV ad is put out there.
The US has it's three monthly holidays to end the year - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas (or whatever holiday you want to insert for late December), we don't have that late November holiday, so the Christmas starts right after Halloween, or before, in the case of Jenners.
Because there is no Thanksgiving, there is no Black Friday, or anti-Black Friday (as a person who hates shopping for gifts, every day is anti-Black Friday for me). The same person who asked me about Thanksgiving traditions, also asked about Black Friday; didn't someone get killed last year? I feel like someone gets killed every year.
Because of this lack of a holiday, and crazy day of shopping, Christmas preparation is spread out over two months. I'm not sure if I like this or not. Do I like the intense Holiday Cheer for one month, or the slow build over two. The Grinch that I am, I don't really care for either. I do like the John Lewis Christmas ads though, so here is the one from last year (the one from this year is just 'meh', for me at least)....
In late October, I went to Jenners because I was told that they are one of the few stores that sells canned pumpkin (I found a cheaper place to get it, but that's another story). I was surprised to see the beginnings of Christmas decorations already. It's late October, I thought, how come we have Christmas stuff already, what about Thanksgiving? Ah....no one cares about Thanksgiving, it hit me half a second later.
That's a minor bit of cultural difference that I have noticed this year, but oddly, not the past two years of my living in Edinburgh. I wonder if this means, I actually am missing Thanksgiving - that can't possibly be.
The Christmas advertisements start up in early November, people starting talking about shopping for Christmas gifts (something I hate doing - I'm using the word 'hate' here), Christmas parties start to be discussed, and the John Lewis annual Christmas TV ad is put out there.
The US has it's three monthly holidays to end the year - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas (or whatever holiday you want to insert for late December), we don't have that late November holiday, so the Christmas starts right after Halloween, or before, in the case of Jenners.
Because there is no Thanksgiving, there is no Black Friday, or anti-Black Friday (as a person who hates shopping for gifts, every day is anti-Black Friday for me). The same person who asked me about Thanksgiving traditions, also asked about Black Friday; didn't someone get killed last year? I feel like someone gets killed every year.
Because of this lack of a holiday, and crazy day of shopping, Christmas preparation is spread out over two months. I'm not sure if I like this or not. Do I like the intense Holiday Cheer for one month, or the slow build over two. The Grinch that I am, I don't really care for either. I do like the John Lewis Christmas ads though, so here is the one from last year (the one from this year is just 'meh', for me at least)....
I am assuming John Lewis is a department store.
ReplyDeleteThe big controversy about the holidays this week is that Black Friday for some stores is beginning at midnight, 10pm, or even 8pm Thursday night, with retail workers feeling they are losing their Thanksgiving holiday.
Also Saturday is designated Small Business Day, with people being encouraged to shop at small local stores. Of course, Monday has been Online Shopping Day, and now Tuesday is Mobile Device Shopping Day--not to buy them but to use them to do your shopping.