For many of us, November 1st was a pretty exciting day. No, it wasn’t a major holiday or Beyonce’s birthday. Instead, November 1st was the long-awaited day when it finally became socially acceptable to play Christmas music. For some particularly festive folks, the Christmas trees were immediately put up, the houses were adorned with twinkling lights, and Michael Buble’s Christmas album sleepily awoke from its long hibernation. As a country, we can’t deny our eternal infatuation with this holiday. But before we pop those Pillsbury Christmas cookies that we all adore into the ovens, let us not forget Christmas’ overlooked and slightly less attractive younger sibling – Thanksgiving!

Yes, I get it. For many people, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. However, Thanksgiving is one pretty significant holiday that a lot of us seem to overlook. For a lot of Americans, this holiday is viewed as a cheat day. In other words, it’s a day when you can stuff your face with as much delicious turkey and mashed potatoes as you like and no one will judge you for it. Sounds pretty great, right? In actuality, this holiday is much more important than we may think.

Thanksgiving has evolved into a day that centers solely around our relationships, especially with our families. No matter how much we deny it, all of us are grateful for our families, despite how crazy they may be. They love us unconditionally, which is pretty incredible. Our Sailor Sisters are also considered family. All of us have achieved “community through unity” this year, and are continuing to form new bonds with each other. Sometimes it can be easy to take the people in our lives for granted. However, our generation is slowly beginning to realize just how important love is and the significance of coming together despite our differences. After all, “coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is success” (Henry Ford).

What our country needs more than anything right now is to spread love, and at Marymount, we have an abundance of it. Here, we are all one big family. Although there is a lot to give thanks for this year – including Zac Efron, the Internet, and fries – the most important thing in each of our lives is, and will always be, those who surround us. So next Thanksgiving, before eating to your heart’s content, take a moment to realize how much you’ve been blessed with.