Having finished my Fall Term finals on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I headed back home for the first time in months. As I walked through the front door of our humble abode, I was hit with the smell of pre-Thanksgiving cooking – green bean casserole, stuffing, and other coma-inducing foods were all being prepared for the anticipated feast. After having eaten dining hall food (most of the time just getting the chicken tenders), I was eager to finally have a homemade, wholesome meal.

As I sat down the next day for Thanksgiving dinner, however, I realized that I wasn’t just eager to eat, but I was also eager to spend time with my family. I was looking forward to hanging out with my brothers and harassing each other (as all brothers do), and to share with my parents all that I had been doing while away at school. We didn’t have any extended family over this year, but I kind of liked that. It made our Thanksgiving more personal and less “holiday-like”. In fact, it didn’t really feel like a holiday at all, something that I realized I’m thankful for.

Too often, holidays are surrounded by gifts. Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, and personal birthdays are all heavily surrounded by the idea of giving and receiving things. Thanksgiving, however, has thankfully steered clear of gift-giving. The only two real gifts that are given on Thanksgiving is food – usually handmade and from a personal recipe (not like that Chipotle gift card you got for your birthday) – and time. There’s no stress surrounding Thanksgiving. Sure, you need to make a lot of food, but it’s nothing compared to the stress of Christmas where people are setting up Christmas lights in the freezing cold, going out to purchase a Christmas tree, running out to buy last minute gifts, etc. Think of Clark Griswold, covering every inch of his house with Christmas lights and dragging his family to the middle of nowhere to find the perfect Christmas tree. Sure, the movie may be an exaggeration, but it’s not far from the chaos that actually happens during Christmas time.

Thanksgiving is almost perfectly placed to remind us before we go into the Christmas season that holidays are about being thankful for what we have, not wanting something more. Thanksgiving reminds us that there shouldn’t be expectations and spending time with family and friends is really what makes a holiday special. So, as we go into the Christmas season, let’s not get caught up in trying to make it the “best Christmas ever”, but instead try to be as humble as possible, remembering that Christmas isn’t a competition, and that at the end of the day, family and friends are the most important part of the holidays.