It is November, a month of fall colors, pumpkins, and squash, yet already the holiday season is making itself known. Decorations are being put up in stores and homes, and Christmas music can be heard blasting from the radio. 

But many are overlooking the fact that November has a holiday, too. Thanksgiving, a time for Americans to be thankful and take a break with their family before the chaos of the holiday season. It’s a day to take a step back and spend time with family and food, many spending hours to prepare for the perfect meal to enjoy together. 

But all this work is being wasted because people choose to prepare for a holiday that is over a month away. Thanksgiving doesn’t get the attention or time it deserves, so Christmas shouldn’t be celebrated before Thanksgiving has had its turn.

Thanksgiving is a day to take a step back and spend time with family and food. Families spend hours, or even prep the day before, to create the perfect meal to enjoy together, yet all this work is being wasted when people instead choose to think about Christmas.

Everybody has plenty of time to get out the decorations and celebrate with the holiday spirit. Yes, it is exciting to think about decorating the tree, putting up twinkling lights outside, or preparing gifts for those you love, but a month is quite a bit of time to get fully invested in the Christmas spirit as the weather gets colder.

A common argument people have for listening to Christmas music before it’s time is that Thanksgiving has no music of its own, besides the odd turkey song they were forced to sing in in 2nd grade. But, with so much time to listen to Christmas music anywhere, it does not matter if there are turkey day songs to listen to. 

It isn’t the music that makes Thanksgiving worth celebrating, it is the time spent with family and the chance to take a step back and think about the good in your life, something that doesn’t happen as often as it should.

Many families don’t come together until a holiday comes around, and Thanksgiving deserves to be celebrated as a well-earned break with family. People should take advantage of the time given off from work and school and get together with dinner.

Though the holiday season is without a doubt one of the most wonderful and giving times of the year, America needs to give Thanksgiving its time in the spotlight.