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Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Let's Celebrate with Some of my Favorite Thanksgiving TV Specials!

This is the cover of this week's parish bulletin hanging on our refrigerator. I made the border around it in 4th grade for art class. What it is is a cardboard border attached to a plastic bag and in this plastic bag you display artwork, etc. If I remember correctly, the border is made from pieces I cut out from a magazine pasted on the cardboard with a brush on glue. You brush the glue underneath it and a top of it. I think the whole set up looks very Thanksgiving. :)

Thanksgiving is such a great holiday, isn't it? I think it is one of the few times of the year I am actually relaxed. There are plenty of traditions that I still live by, such as the days off from school and work, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Purina National Dog Show following it, and then the main attraction: dinner with family with the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and veggies. And, of course, the reason for the season, being thankful for what you have.

Recently, people have been peeved by how Thanksgiving seems to be totally skipped over and often disregarded as a holiday, and I've noticed it as well. This article in The Monclarion states it pretty well. It is almost considered the "Pre-Christmas Eve" rather than its own holiday. Everywhere you go there are more Christmas decorations than Thanksgiving ones right after Halloween ends. I have always associated Thanksgiving with Christmas in a sense because it is the leeway into the Christmas season, but it never seems to stand on its own or have its own spotlight.

Well, one obvious reason for this is commercialism. Thanksgiving doesn't sell as much as other holidays, so therefore it's going be somewhat ignored. Also, if you notice, there aren't many Thanksgiving TV specials. Well, not as much as other holidays anyway. However, I do recall a select few, and those are the "Peanuts" and "Winnie the Pooh." Both of these series have a tendency to cover everything.

I have taken it upon myself to share these traditional favorites with you for your Thanksgiving enjoyment!

This clip of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" actually includes one scene that is excluded from the made for TV version, and this is the scene when Snoopy and Woodstock set the table for their own Thanksgiving dinner after Charlie and his friends leave for Thanksgiving dinner at his grandmother's house. After we see the kids in the car, it would go to commercial and return to the end credits with Snoopy and Woodstock. My father would always tell me about the excluded scene and even showed it to me once on YouTube, so I am thankful I found this version to include on this post!


Unfortunately I can't seem to find "A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving" in its entirety, but at least I found this trailer for the "Seasons of Giving" VHS it is on. It's heartwarming in itself. <3



Oh, and here's a trailer for Disney Pixar's The Incredibles. I don't know if they still do this, but back in high school I noticed that every Thanksgiving night this movie would play on television, so I consider it a Thanksgiving TV special memory and thought I'd acknoweldge it as well.


And who can forget about this holiday favorite? Like The Incredibles, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's version of March of the Wooden Soldiers pretty much has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but yet it is played on television every Thanksgiving Day. The only thing with this one is that its time conflicts with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so I have to keep changing channels back and forth. However, this is also a holiday favorite of my father's and he has shared the tradition with me, especially the final battle scene between the boogie men and the wooden soldiers. For the color version, click here. I am thankful that I found both versions in their entirety. ;)


So there you have it, a collection of some of my favorite Thanksgiving television specials and traditions for your enjoyment this Thanksgiving Day. 

I am thankful for where I am at in my life right now. I am thankful for my family, friends, and everything I have. I am thankful for my experiences, talents, and interests so far and look forward to what more life has in store for me.

What are you thankful for? I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving! :D

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