For many people, Thanksgiving is a time for families to come together and celebrate a special and important holiday. However, as each year passes by, I’m starting to notice more and more people skip over Thanksgiving and go straight to preparing for Christmas.

From grocery stores putting their decorations and trees out on display to commercials running ads about Santa Claus and what gift he might bring you, we’re so focused on stumbling towards the next holiday that we don’t take the time out to slow down and fully think about what this holiday means to us.

Personally, I haven’t been a big fan of Thanksgiving up until a couple years ago. I was always looking forward to Christmas and what presents I might get but now, since I’ve grown up and I’m working and I hardly see some of my family members because of it, special gatherings at Grandma’s house now doesn’t seem so bad. I also get amazing food which is a huge bonus to me.

Coming together to celebrate this holiday is one of my favorite things to do during this time, I catch up with family and friends and we really bond with one another. That’s one of the great aspects of Thanksgiving; we can all come together and share what we’re thankful for.

When you think of Thanksgiving, people tend to immediately think of what comes after which is Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Advertisements tend to capitalize on what kinds of deals people can get after this holiday rather than putting the focus on spending time with family.

I hear more people talk about what they’re doing for Black Friday and what stores to hit up rather than where they’re going for Thanksgiving and what they’re thankful for.

That’s the sad part of it all; we’re such a fast-paced society that when the holidays roll around we don’t know how to take a breath and really acknowledge the gifts surrounding us. We just keep going and wait for the next best thing.

I understand Thanksgiving may not be the most exciting holiday compared to Christmas and New Year’s Eve and perhaps that’s the reason why we have Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In a way, these two events do shed light on Thanksgiving but also shadow the holiday unfortunately.

I realize some people might not celebrate this holiday for various reasons. However, whatever your reason may be, it’s still not a bad thing to take the time out to be thankful for what you have, after all, that’s what this holiday is all about.