Merry Thanksgiving!!

I'll be the first to admit that it's a little confusing around our house this week.  Are we celebrating Thanksgiving or have we moved on to celebrating the Christmas season?  The Christmas trees are up and decorated, and touches of red and green have been added throughout the house.  But there's a cornucopia on our dining room table anxiously awaiting dinner guests and there's a giant turkey thawing in our refrigerator.

I know the issue of when to put up Christmas decorations can be polarizing.  People have strong opinions about it.  I've heard a lot of people complaining in recent years about Christmas coming too early and not leaving anyone any time to enjoy this November holiday, Thanksgiving.  On the other hand, Christmas is such a special time of year, why not enjoy it as long as possible? 

Growing up, we never really made a huge deal about Thanksgiving.  Honestly, to me the most important thing about it was getting to put up the Christmas decorations (while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, of course).  You can see why I'm conflicted.  But a few years ago, we started celebrating Thanksgiving at our house. I roast a turkey, and both of our families get together all under one roof to enjoy time together and [hopefully] a delicious meal.  The first couple of years, I obsessed over cooking everything myself and tried to make everything just perfect.  I still really enjoyed it, but the past couple of years (especially last year while I was pregnant and my feet were KILLING me :)) I've relaxed and let everybody else help (which they were always willing to do).  So now I feel like we've got a new Thanksgiving tradition, and I love it.  I don't want to rush past it in a flurry of faux snow and twinkling lights.  Then again, I LOVE Christmas time and all the coziness and decorations, so I want to enjoy it as long as I can.

But who decided that Thanksgiving and Christmas have to be mutually exclusive?  Why can't we stuff ourselves with turkey and dressing while "White Christmas" plays softly in the background?  I don't see anything offensive about a cornucopia in the dining room and a Christmas tree in the den!  Besides that, neither holiday is truly about the decorations.  Far from it!  What would Thanksgiving be without family?   And of course Christmas is certainly first and foremost about the birth of Jesus, but celebrating it with family sure is a blessing.  That feeling of warmth and togetherness is one of my favorite things about both holidays.  So blending the two together just makes it twice as nice, right?  I think so.  Merry Thanksgiving !!