“Thanksgiving vs. Christmas: An Objective Comparison” One Year Later

About a year ago, co-editor Mathew Yeager wrote an article comparing the two beloved holidays: Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the review, Yeager wrote a biased three sections, all of which highlighted why Christmas overcomes Thanksgiving. His four categories included: Food, Movies, Backstory, and Festivity — clearly missing important details such as music and tradition. In this article, I will be highlighting where Mathew may have made terrible lapses in judgment and blunders, while also providing my own objective insight on the matter.

The Food

Starting off, I must say that Thanksgiving food is iconic. Whether you’re talking about the pumpkin pie, the mashed potatoes, the turkey, or the cranberry sauce, the food is always the first thing to come to mind. Christmas, on the other hand, does not have many strong foods that stick out. Sure, there is the Christmas ham or the Christmas goose, but most foods are just candies that sit under the couch for several months. Therefore, purely talking about food, Thanksgiving is much better than Christmas.

Music

As I previously mentioned, music is a major factor that was overlooked by the now-co-editor. When thinking about Thanksgiving, most people do not associate many songs with the holiday. However, many overlook renowned songs such as: “Wild Honey Pie,” by the Beatles, and “Turkey Time,” by Harry Kindergarten Music. Similarly, Christmas music is just as iconic. We often joke and jest at the fact that Mariah Carrey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” starts playing as soon as Thanksgiving ends, but is it objectively better than Thanksgiving music? Simply put, the sheer amount of songs dedicated to Christmas wins this category over. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the top 50 Christmas albums are all Multi-Platinum, with Elvis’ Christmas Album, by Elvis Presley, even winning a Diamond Award. Additionally, stand-alone songs such as “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer,” by Elmo and Patsy, are loved and admired by all. So overall, even though the Beatles’ White Album, of which “Wild Honey Pie” was a part, was a 24x Platinum winner, Christmas must win this category over Thanksgiving.

Movies

Similar to Thanksgiving food and music, Christmas movies are legendary. A Charlie Brown Christmas, Home Alone, A Christmas Story (my personal favorite), and Die Hard will go down in the history books as some of the best holiday movies of all time. These movies are classics and are perfect to set the mood for the upcoming Christmas season. Meanwhile, although they are classics, the only notable Thanksgiving movies are Free Birds and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. While extremely influential, they cannot hold up the burden of a holiday that is Thanksgiving.

Better Backstory

Each of the holidays’ backstories is incredibly in-depth, but one is much more prominent than the other, and it is not Thanksgiving. Throughout grade school, we are always told the stories of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, yet we are never told about the violence, slavery, and pervasive spread of illnesses that followed, really dampening the holiday as a whole. Contrarily, Christmas is all about Jesus and good spirits, spending time with family, and getting cool presents that aren’t socks. This means that, objectively, Christmas gets the better of Thanksgiving once again.

Verdict

Overall, Christmas is an objectively better holiday than Thanksgiving. There is likely no way for Thanksgiving to ever overcome Christmas unless we stop celebrating Christmas as a whole.