# Is Thanksgiving a bigger deal than Christmas in the USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 25, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915 "2009-11-25T16:08:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/41 "2009-11-25T20:18:00Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Thanksgiving is the only real feast holiday we have left. What about Super Bowl Sunday? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/42 "2009-11-25T20:22:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The four-day weekend is an interesting point. Everyone, everywhere, in every field gets Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. Yeah, that would be nice, but that’s not the case for “everyone”. I’m an IT support analyst for a financial services company. If the stock market is open, we are open. Friday I work. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/43 "2009-11-25T20:36:34Z")
OK, OK, I get it that I screwed up about the day after Thanksgiving. You can all stop hammering it home now. > [@](#): > > The reason why I asked, because I know that Christmas is a bigger economic beast, is that it seems more de rigueur for family members to be together at Thanksgiving than at Christmas. Is my perception wrong? The day before Thanksgiving is the most heavily-traveled day in the year, mostly from people going to visit families. But that doesn’t mean that more people go home for Thanksgiving, just that they all do it at the same time. Most people travel for Christmas, too, but the range of dates over which people travel is more spread out. A Thanksgiving party is usually on the day itself, or at most the weekend immediately before or after, but a Christmas party can be any time in December or even early January. That said, Thanksgiving might be regarded as more family-oriented than Christmas, if just because it doesn’t have all the other baggage that Christmas has. Thanksgiving is about family and food, whereas Christmas is about family, food, presents, Santa, Jesus, mistletoe, skiing, etc. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/44 "2009-11-25T21:52:22Z")
Depends on the family, really. For us, Christmas is basically Thanksgiving plus presents. Same people, same food, same games, and often the same conversations. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/45 "2009-11-25T21:55:24Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Every field except retail. And hospitality! I work at a ski resort. We officially open for skiing tomorrow. My office (reservations) is open every day of the year, holidays included, though it’s usually pretty dead on those days. Almost everybody I know here is working tomorrow. An awful lot of people work on days when “nobody works.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/46 "2009-11-25T21:57:25Z")
Now I’m interested in what percentage of the working population works on Black Friday. I wonder if it approaches 50%. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/47 "2009-11-25T21:59:06Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > An awful lot of people work on days when “nobody works.” If they didn’t no one would be able to enjoy that time off. There would be no where to go and nothing to do. I mean, unless you \*actually \*want to spend that time at home with your family. _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/48 "2009-11-25T22:32:02Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > And banking. Banks are open the Friday after. Really? Because they won’t process deposits or payments until Monday. (Apparently, the computers need to sleep through the cyber-tryptophan). ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/49 "2009-11-25T22:33:50Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Now I’m interested in what percentage of the working population works on Black Friday. I wonder if it approaches 50%. Approaches? If you don’t count people who specifically take the day off, I bet it’s over 70%. Aside from schools and some doctor’s offices, I can’t think of many places that are outright closed on Black Friday. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/50 "2009-11-25T22:37:36Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > The reason why I asked, because I know that Christmas is a bigger economic beast, is that it seems more de rigueur for family members to be together at Thanksgiving than at Christmas. Is my perception wrong? Agreed that your perception is off. Thanksgiving is pretty much just that one day and then everyone moves on. If part of the family is visiting a different part of the family, you normally don’t bother tracking everyone down. OTOH, Christmas usually involves multiple gatherings with multiple branches of the family and is spread out between Christmas Eve and New Year’s. It’s a logistical thing - you have presents for everyone so you need to see every single person face to face. On Thanksgiving, if you miss someone, you usually just roll with it. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/51 "2009-11-25T22:46:55Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > If they didn’t no one would be able to enjoy that time off. There would be no where to go and nothing to do. Exactly. It’s not like I mind working it, it’s just that not everybody works a Monday-Friday office job yet have “real jobs.” Benefits and all. Please don’t forget about us. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![This\_Just\_In\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@This\_Just\_In\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/This_Just_In_2)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/52 "2009-11-25T23:53:00Z")
I have always thought it is dumb to have a ‘family’ holiday on a Thursday. How does it facilitate travelling to visit family when you have to work Wednesday and Friday. I work in the engineering field and see most people having to work Friday. Lots of people work on Friday - I would be really interested in knowing a true % of American jobs who actually get the day off. I’m sure most government jobs do. So it is just some random day off mid-week where I eat a lot with local family. Talk about cheap crap to buy the next day (if I wasn’t working). Christmas is a bigger deal to me. It is fun to watch kids open presents and play with new toys. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/53 "2009-11-26T00:48:57Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Yes your perception is wrong. > > Families get together on Christmas eve and day. You often have problems over who you visit. Husband’s or wife’s relatives. Often they split the day in half and visit both sides of the family. Christmas eve is also a big family event. > > Often people visit one spouse’s family for Thanksgiving and one side for Christmas day. The people that get you for Thanksgiving day are getting you for the lesser important event. > > The big family get together holidays are: > Christmas > Easter > Thanksgiving Only if you’re Christian. Which was sort of my point - if you aren’t Christian then Thanksgiving may well be the bigger holiday. Of course, the US being a supposedly “Christian nation” :rolleyes: even those who aren’t Christian get it forcibly rammed down our throats. The rest of us sometimes forget we’re not supposed to exist, how uppity of us. Really, that is the one thing that has _always_ annoyed me about Christmas, this blithe assumption that you MUST celebrate it even if you don’t believe in Jesus or the Judeo-Christian God. I am heartily sick of being forced to participate in gift exchanges, receive stacks of cards full of glurge about a deity I’ve never believed in, and listening to people whine that they can’t force ALL of us to listen Xmas Muzak 24/7 from October to December and they have to say "Happy _Holidays"_ because, omigosh, not everyone believes in baby Jesus. Sure, sure, freedom of religion… as long as you believe in the _majority_ relgion and just don’t talk about what YOUR family does. And if you do, you get shouted down. No, my family _does not and never has_ “gotten together for Christmas”. Christmas was a day off and maybe you go to the movies while all the Christians are in church or something. Yes, for many families it’s important but _not for all of us_. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/54 "2009-11-26T01:05:26Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Really? Because they won’t process deposits or payments until Monday. > > (Apparently, the computers need to sleep through the cyber-tryptophan). It is my understanding that federal law prohibits U.S. banks from being closed four days in a row. Hence, the day after Thanksgiving is a working day for many bank employees. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/55 "2009-11-26T01:06:47Z")
I forgot to add, I’ve worked retail, retail is a real job. Not one I want to do ever again, though! My Thanksgiving plans didn’t work out because of my work hours this year, but I don’t mind too much. My family, with the exception of one aunt (who was part of the plans that didn’t work), is hundreds or even a couple of thousand miles away. Christmas? Same thing, pretty much. I’ll probably be working that one, too. But that’s fine with me, really. And I understand your annoyance, Broomstick. It’s not like I’m Christian either. The timing is good for a holiday of _some_ sort, though, what with winter being well underway but having a ways to go. Personally I go for Winter Solstice. Besides, I don’t have any more vacation time to use until July. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/56 "2009-11-26T01:28:29Z")
Well, you know, I’m a Yule person myself. And if I’m invited to a party or a home I will conform to local customs (Christmas, Channukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan (it migrates around the calendar, I remember when it used to hit in November-December), Solstice, Haitian Voudoun celebration, whatever… I don’t mind people celebrating their holidays and I’m happy for them, it’s the insistence I _must also_ get swept in their holidays that I find so grating. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/57 "2009-11-26T01:34:16Z")
What separates Thanksgiving from Christmas is football, not that roundy thing the rest of the world kicks all day without making a score either. 😛 In my personal life it is more important to meet for Thanksgiving as a family holiday. Christmas is for the children and staying around home with them. But that is just me. Thanksgiving is an end of summer harvest festival to celebrate family and the bounty life give us. Many other cultures celebrate an end of year harvest festival too. Christmas kicks off a week of end of year celebrations that end on New Years day. The whole commercialism of the gift giving thing is fading away for me, but I do like to see the children’s faces. So Thanksgiving is the family holiday for me. And I don’t wish to offend anyone with religious reasons for celebrating any of the seasons holidays. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/58 "2009-11-26T03:22:51Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Thanksgiving doesn’t have anything like the economic impact Christmas has, so from that point of view, Christmas is a much bigger deal. > > In my family, Thanksgiving is no big deal. I don’t go home to visit the parents or anything. Christmas is a command performance, at which I must appear or my mother will send out search parties to drag me in. Years ago, I dated a girl whose family was the exact opposite…Thanksgiving was their huge deal-must attend holiday, and Christmas was no biggie. Worked out well that way, but unfortunately she and I were not meant to be, so now she’s married to some dude and I’ll be watching football alone tommorrow. There’s room for more at our house. Can you make it to Seattle by tomorrow morning? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/59 "2009-11-26T16:25:38Z")
I agree with the previous poster who said that Thanksgiving is probably the more _universally_ and _uniformly_ celebrated holiday, and in that regard is second only perhaps to Independence day in the national calendar. There isn’t any dispute about “how” you celebrate Thanksgiving - of course you have a special dinner meal with family or friends. The only religious content is so uncontroversial and generic (“be thankful for what you have”) that it fits with almost any belief system. It is less of a “big deal” in the sense that it is not a gifting holiday and thus not very commercialized (there’s only just so many ways to sell turkey and pie). ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915/60 "2009-11-26T16:34:22Z")
Not arguing with you, really, **Broomstick**. I guess you just feel more strongly than I do about it. I _do_ wish that when people mean Christmas and Christmas alone they would just _say_ it. Don’t slap “Holiday” on a display of Santa cards, ya know? Just say it. I don’t mind. I don’t think anybody is going to get Santa cards for any _other_ holiday. “Holidays” is fine; for me, that includes 'em all, though of course the Big Three being Thansgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. But that is another thread. Thanksgiving is appealingly adaptable to pretty much anybody’s belief system or lack thereof. I like that about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-bigger-deal-than-christmas-in-the-usa/518915.md?page=4)