Thanksgiving/Christmas

[Kev de Cauchery]

Thing is, I'm working on a project which consists of some unconventional Thanksgiving and Christmas family scene,

but since I'm Chinese, and am in China, I've never been exposed to any kind family scenes on these days.

 

So guys, please help me with this. Just tell me the basics with these holidays.

Do you go to church on both of these days?

And if you're working, how many days do you have off for Thanksgiving?

Is there anything special on these days?

 

Gosh these questions sound dumb , but please help me.

 

Thank you's in advance.

Edited November 6, 2009 by KevinCaucher

[Rabble_Rouser]

Hi Kevin,

 

Here are the answers to your questions

 

Do you go to church on both of these days? No

 

And if you're working, how many days do you have off for Thanksgiving? 1 for a 3 day weekend (that is the norm in Canada)

 

Is there anything special on these days?

 

These are the two big family days for me. Everyone in my immediate family (and their SO) get together for a few days and eat too much food. One tradition we have is after the rest of my family gets back from church Christmas Eve, we sit around having drinks & hor d'euvres and try to guess what people have wrapped under the tree. Kind of corny but it's fun since my mother & grandmother will spend hours trying to figure out what they have waiting for them the next morning, even if we've added bricks or rice to boxes to make the guessing harder.

 

Steve

[Former Member]

I have nothing to say.

 

 

[jenni]

Canadian and American Thanksgivings are a little different so I thought I'd chime in here for the American perspective:

 

Thanksgiving is always on Thursday, so most people get a four day weekend. We eat a ton of food and watch football games. Many people also watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in the morning. Friday is called "black Friday" because that is when stores have unbelievable sales and people rush out at 4 am to get to the stores to get the limited bargains, and then continue to shop all day. It can be a lot of fun, but can turn scary. I believe a Wal-Mart worker was killed last year when he was trying to open the doors to the store on Friday morning and was stampeded by the crowd.

 

Many people go to Christmas Eve church services if they are religious. Some movies open on Christmas day and some people go see them, but for the most part people just stay home on Christmas with their families.

[Nephylim]

In the UK we don't have thanksgiving, just Christmas, although if you are pagan you also celebrate on 21st December a festival called Yule.

 

Holidays are on Christmas Day and Boxing Day (the day after) and most people who are working finish half day Christmas Eve and have an office party.

 

On Christmas Day it's mostly about opening present, eating and Drinking then falling asleep in front of the TV when the Queen gives her speech.

[Toast]

Thanksgiving has always been about cooking and cooking and cooking and then about eating and eating and eating. Afterwards some get to wash dishes and some get to pass out in front of the best football game they ever slept thru. Christmas is the same plus presents. Church is in the picture for some. There is love in there too. And usually some hurt feelings.

[TalonRider]

Thanks to Commercialism, both of these holidays have gotten away from the true meaning of the holiday.

[Mark Arbour]

Canadian and American Thanksgivings are a little different so I thought I'd chime in here for the American perspective:

 

Thanksgiving is always on Thursday, so most people get a four day weekend. We eat a ton of food and watch football games. Many people also watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in the morning. Friday is called "black Friday" because that is when stores have unbelievable sales and people rush out at 4 am to get to the stores to get the limited bargains, and then continue to shop all day. It can be a lot of fun, but can turn scary. I believe a Wal-Mart worker was killed last year when he was trying to open the doors to the store on Friday morning and was stampeded by the crowd.

 

Many people go to Christmas Eve church services if they are religious. Some movies open on Christmas day and some people go see them, but for the most part people just stay home on Christmas with their families.

 

 

Nice job of summing up the American experience. The traditional food for Thanksgiving is Turkey. We usually have the standard sides...mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberries. Plus veggies of some sort (a few different types), some type of roll or bread, and then pumpkin pie for dessert. For Christmas, we have the same thing to eat, but some people do ham or roast beef.

 

I'd add going to church on Christmas morning as well, although I wouldn't be caught dead in a church anymore so I wouldn't know.

[Kev de Cauchery]

I'll take this opportunity to thank Rabble_Rouser a.k.a. Steve, jenni, Nephylim, Bugeye, TalonRider and Mark Arbour for the answers and info's, they're really useful to me.

 

And explain a bit the reason I am asking these "dumb" questions. My prof gave us a project with a clear guildline, i.e. we are required to write a scene of Thanksgiving or Christmas in the States by, as i quote, "using your imagination and doing research." I thought you guys may help me here. And you did. I'm so grateful for that.

 

 

 

And also thanks to Louisiana Writer a.k.a. Carvel, for giving me some really "unconventional" ideas and showing me stereotypical gay behaviours. That's why your prof would ask you to do reasearch on the Internet - not only to get the info's you need, also to get ideas for future characters.

F.Y.I. maybe your Wikipedia does, but mine doesn't have the answers to the questions.

Edited November 6, 2009 by KevinCaucher

[Jack Frost]

Do you go to church on both of these days?

No.

And if you're working, how many days do you have off for Thanksgiving?

I haven't gotten a day off on American Thanksgiving for two years now. Only one day off for the Canadian one, but no one in Quebec really celebrates it. All of my family lives in the USA and they do it on the last Thursday of November. I can't come because it's always exam week in Canada.

 

Is there anything special on these days?

Family obligations. I don't really like staying at my parents' house for more than a few days... alone a week. I'm always expected to get off the computer at 11pm and it's a bitch on my cigarette habit because I have to refrain a lot more when I'm around them.

 

But yeah, seeing some relatives that you don't see often. Eat a big fat turkey dinner. Open gifts. Pass out after so much wine.

Edited November 6, 2009 by Jack Frost

[rknapp]

Nobody goes to church for Thanksgiving because it's not a religious holiday. American Thanksgiving has its roots in the colonial days, specifically when the first Pilgrims arrived in the New World in present-day New England and had a feast with the Native American indigenous peoples. Every fourth Thursday of the month of November, American families sit down together for a feast. Today, the day consists of families coming together, watching football (very popular), and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as it plays out in New York City in Times Square. Afterwards, everyone sits down for a feast of Turkey, stuffing, gravy, and other assorted Thanksgiving favorites. Before dinner, most families will say a blessing and thank the Lord (or whatever their God is) for whatever fortune was bestowed upon them in the year between the current and previous Thanksgivings. That's about as religious as it gets. Most businesses are closed. Even some 24 hour convenience stores close after 3 or 4pm.

 

Then, about 4 or 5am the following Friday morning, every retail store in the entire United States, and probably Canada as well, opens their doors to the Holiday rush with amazing sales. Indeed, the term "bloodbath" is not to be taken lightly. Last year, a Wal*Mart seasonal employee, who was working for some extra scratch so his family could have a nicer Christmas, was killed as he opened the store and the massive crowd literally ran him over, stepping on him, and killing him as they rushed after the sales. Later in the day, a certain store had run out of a particular product. The man who had purchased the last one was jumped in the parking lot and shot to death. It was a toy for little girls.

 

 

Christmas consists of two parts, three if you live where I do. First, there is Christmas Eve. In my family, my parents and sister and I spend that day decorating the house. Specifically, we decorate the Christmas tree (a pine tree of some fashion, real or fake) with various lights and ornaments. Some people stick a star, or angel at the top of the tree, and some people drape tinsel on the branches, and some have a train moving around the base of the tree (we have a train set for that purpose, but have not used it in many years). Christmas presents are then laid under the tree. If there are children who believe in Santa Claus (look him up on Wikipedia), then only presents from family members are placed under it. Presents from Santa Claus won't appear under the tree until everyone has gone to bed already. Midnight Mass is popular, where people go to church at midnight (12:00am Christmas Day, though still considered to be Christmas Eve) to celebrate the birth of Christ.

 

Christmas Day, everyone wakes up early and shares the gifts. In my area, there is a third part. If you are unfamiliar with American history, specifically, the Revolutionary war, then you should know that one of the most pivotal battles was the battle of Trenton, where General George Washington and his army of Continentals crossed the Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, and marched to Trenton in the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Eve in 1775. There, they battled drunk/hungover Hessian troops and won. Every year, the historical society re-enacts this famous crossing on Christmas Day, and we go to see it.

 

Later in the day, many will go to see their extended family for a holiday dinner. Again, football in the day if it is on, but otherwise just mingling, followed by dinner, followed by gift-sharing.

 

Technically it should end there, but since the retail shopping madness was so prevalent for Thanksgiving, it should be noted for Christmas as well. With all this gift-sharing, there will inevitably be people who don't want what they received and will return it. On December 26th, the day after Christmas, retail stores are flooded with consumers wishing to return these items. I work for a retail department store, and my job during this time is to work the Return Center, specifically re-ticketing merchandise and returning it to the shelves. A whole register bank is reserved for returns for the two weeks following Christmas because of the intense backlog that resembles the long lines from only a few days prior where people were buying those items, rather than returning them. Basically I take away an entire hotel canvass-laundry cart full of returned merchandise that was returned at the front of the store and bring it to the stockroom, where an entire alcove is dedicated to sorting the returns and re-ticketing them. This goes on for the two weeks following Christmas. I don't mind, as I get MAD hours in that time!

 

Hope that helps.

[Mark Arbour]

 

 

Christmas consists of two parts, three if you live where I do. First, there is Christmas Eve. In my family, my parents and sister and I spend that day decorating the house. Specifically, we decorate the Christmas tree (a pine tree of some fashion, real or fake) with various lights and ornaments.

 

We decorate our tree and house on the weekend after Thanksgiving. That way it's up throughout the holiday season. And it's pretty.