REMEMBER THE PILGRIMS 2.0


It’s the day after Halloween. In the dark alley of a city street, a pilgrim and [pilgrimess?] sit in a corner.

People walk by, holding a peppermint mocha, jingling bells, and wearing cross-stitched sweaters with snowflakes on the them. The pilgrims, unnoticed by the rest of civilization, silently weep, alone and forgotten.

BUT NOT THIS YEAR.

This year, my friends, shall be the year we REMEMBER THE PILGRIMS.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving, I get out all my Christmas stuff and light up my house like a Griswold. But, I also love each holiday during its season. October is Halloween, December is Christmas and November is Thanksgiving. Well, at least that is how it used to be.

While the pilgrims fought starvation, freezing—and well, just staying alive—today they fight a different foe: commercialism.

Commercialism is squeezing Thanksgiving out of the way. Like Alfred the janitor kid in Miracle on 34th Street says, “Yeah, there's a lot of bad 'isms' floatin' around this world, but one of the worst is commercialism. Make a buck, make a buck.”

The day after Halloween, Christmas displays go up in the stores and your TV is flooded with commercials on how you can buy more, more, more (as if that is what Christmas is all about). What happened to the pilgrims and Indians? When did Christmas start having two months? Last time I checked, most countdowns go 25 days till Christmas, not 55.

Right now, Thanksgiving doesn’t have a season or a month. Heck, we can hardly get through Thanksgiving dinner without having to rush out of the house and go stomp someone to death so we can get the next Playstation. Thanksgiving isn’t a day to think about what you don’t have, but a day to remember all that you have to be thankful for.

Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving this year exactly like the pilgrims and Indians did.

It was a balmy fourth Thursday in November. The fog hung close to the freshly harvested fields. The pilgrims and Indians woke early to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade, as the bands and floats traversed Columbus Circle. Next, as the aroma of the turkey filled the air, the pilgrims and Indians watched the Detroit Lions  and Dallas Cowboys lose their annual turkey-day  football game.

Then, they gathered in a local corn field and had a turkey bowl of their own. The pilgrims won 28-21, after a bogus roughing the passer call gave them one last untimed play. That’s when they ran the infamous “butterball turkey” play.

Then, they all gathered round the table with their crazy in-laws and family members to hear the same stories they heard last year. But, it didn’t matter because they spent time with family and friends; the people they fought with, the people they laughed with, and the people that made life worth living.

And that’s how we celebrate Thanksgiving today.

So this year, stand tall to commercialism like a turkey before his final coup de grâce. Say, “Oh no, Christmas, you can wait till after Thanksgiving.” Lift your head high and adorn it with a cockle hat or a headdress. NOvember means NO Christmas. Don’t let Christmas bully Thanksgiving out of the way. Remember the Pilgrims (and Indians/ Native Americans, whatever is politically correct).

#RemeberThePilgrims

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 4, 2018 at 12:48 AM

    Love your post.. but you just rained on
    my Christmas music parade.. not cool. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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