Which do you prefer, Thanksgiving or Christmas? This question has been asked by old and young alike for many years now, and the question still remains.
Thanksgiving offers entertaining football games, delicious food, and memorable moments with family and friends. On the other hand, Christmas is filled with the wonder and magic surrounding Santa Claus, and the hope of receiving the most wonderful presents. However, with these indisputable pros, there are, of course, cons to both holidays. With Thanksgiving, many oppose the holiday for its commemoration of the arrival of Europeans in North America, and the centuries of oppression against the Native American people that followed. During Christmas, at a certain age, the magic and thrill of leaving milk and cookies out for Santa, and then, getting presents from him, eventually ceases, and the holiday just never feels the same again. These pros and cons to both holidays have ultimately led to the constant rivalry between them.
As the holiday season arrives, this arguable question has popped up once again. Only this time, Hempfield Area students and staff give their take on what is the best of the two holidays to finally settle this debate.
To start off, if there’s one thing about Christmas that sets it apart from Thanksgiving; it’s the festive holiday’s music that everyone knows and loves. When said music is “allowed” to be played is a different story. According to Mrs. Mattis, “I start on July 25, because of Christmas in July, and then I take a little break until November 1st at midnight when I listen to Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You,’”
Sophomore, Audrey Wagner, is in slight disagreement with Mrs. Mattis as she starts listening to Christmas music after Thanksgiving. Audrey believes that listening to Christmas music in November gives the holiday an extra month of celebration, and, therefore, exhausts the Christmas spirit by the time December rolls around. It’s fair to say that, based on these two testimonies, Thanksgiving’s month is slightly overshadowed by Christmas’s undeniably catchy music; however, there are still those who restrain themselves to keep that wondrous Christmas feeling fresh.
Secondly, although the playing of Christmas music seems to overlap and take some of the spotlight with Thanksgiving, in November, the meals prepared on each holiday are sure to stir up some competition. Freshman, Victoria Salcedo, is direct with her response as to whether or not she prefers a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal: “I like Christmas meals more because I like ham more than turkey. I think turkey is dry and yucky.”
Conversely Mrs. Fetterman, conflicted with the difficult decision, states, “That is such a hard question to answer because I love all food, all the time, but I’m going to go with a Thanksgiving meal.” Without a doubt, it is still contested whether the Christmas meal or the Thanksgiving meal is better than one another. From this standpoint, it seems like a tie between the holiday giants.
Thirdly, decorations are clearly a win for team Christmas, but when is it an appropriate time to put up the Christmas tree? Mrs. Sheetz gives an insightful answer as she explains that, “Ours went up at the beginning of November. I say whenever you want to put your own tree up is fine. Who are we to judge? So, if you like to have it up extra early and celebrate you can.”
Senior, Natalie Overly, is in agreement with Mrs. Sheetz. Overly puts her tree up at the beginning of November, simply because of her love for Christmas, and loves the festive mood the tree creates.
Lastly, while both holidays have a huge focus on family and friends, it still seems very contested on which of the two holidays people spend the most time with their family. Mrs. Boord believes that she spends the most time with her family on Christmas; however, Mrs. Frye thinks differently, as she spends the most time with her family at Thanksgiving. To break this tie, Senior, Gianna Novotney, explains that, “The holiday I spend with most of my family is Thanksgiving because our family dinner is at our house. In addition, every year I go Black Friday shopping with my mom and brother.” After a hard fought battle, Christmas falls to Thanksgiving over which holiday revolves around family the most.
To sum up, it’s fair to say that when thinking of Thanksgiving and Christmas, many have very strong preferences and dislikes. This is, of course, why the two major holidays are compared so much. However, Hempfield Area students and staff give their final say on which holiday they prefer in an arguably unanimous poll. After asking 80 students and staff about whether they prefer Thanksgiving or Christmas, the results were that 69 favored Christmas to the 11 that preferred Thanksgiving.
