Why Many Like Thanksgiving Better Than Christmas

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Let me just start this post by stating that I love holidays. Ever since I was a child, holidays have always been a great time in my home. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s day were always times of wonderful celebration. Most of my extended family came together to eat, laugh, and enjoy a card game or two. I can safely say that I am not a holiday hater but I do have a rant to make today.

For the second time in a couple of days I have heard someone say that they are really looking forward to Thanksgiving and prefer it over Christmas because it doesn’t have the stress attached to it like Christmas. It seems some prefer Thanksgiving because they don’t have to buy gifts, spend hours putting up decorations, and rush around from place to place.

This makes me sad. Not because Thanksgiving is an unworthy holiday but because the Christmas holiday has become unworthy of what it represents. What was once a day set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus, God in the flesh who came to save man from his sins and give eternal life, has become a mad dash to fulfill one’s obligations to the great Christmas idol: consumerism.

Now that I have destroyed any amount of Christmas spirit that may have been stirring in your heart, let me say something. I enjoy giving presents to those I love. I enjoy the banquets. I enjoy the lights. I enjoy the tacky Christmas sweaters…wait, that one is not true. I think perhaps we may have just lost our focus. I think maybe if the main thing, Jesus, could again become the main thing everything we enjoy about Christmas would regain its purpose. Christmas would be Christmas and perhaps the hearts of many in the world would be softened and a spiritual revival would sweep across the very creation Jesus came to save.

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