There were no Ewok toys available in 1976, and you know why? Because they were from the third movie, it wasn’t time for them yet, we only had flashlights with color gels and plastic tubes attached and those wonderful little rushed to market figures. It wouldn’t have made sense, because you’d be ignoring the best part, the second part, the “I am your father” and “I love you - I know” and Yoda part! You can’t just skip to the end of everything.
That is why Thanksgiving’s so important.
Ok; we went to Target a few days before Halloween and it was Christmas.
Red and green sweaters, snow based housewares, fully decorated trees, all of the lights including those you can never get because they’re always sold out and you really need them because they match the ones you got a couple of years ago that are your absolute favorites but they’re just too short and you should have bought two or three but you didn’t know how long they were gonna be.
Halloween was now in one little aisle next to the automotive supplies, and there was NO Thanksgiving. We looked for turkey tablecloths, or even pumpkin plates or horn-of-plenty napkins. All was holly. They didn’t have the music playing yet; I suppose the combination of jingling bells and jangling bones is a little too caustic.
Standing, utterly bewildered, surrounded by a plastic flocked forest, my daughter recorded a mood driven social post called “Thanksgiving Gets No Love” about how disturbing all this was to her, that it felt wrong somehow. So I explained to her why The Holidays are in That Order, the same way my mother told it to me. Here are the themes:
Halloween: Things could be worse!
Thanksgiving: Things aren’t so bad!
Christmas: Things can be even better!
The holidays are a journey from pessimism to pragmatism to optimism, and you can’t just skip from pessimism to optimism because that’s jarring and rude and sort of impossible. Seeing the Grim Reaper next to the Elf on a Shelf gives the wrong juxtapositional message.
After Halloween’s “lucky to be alive” vibe, Thanksgiving offers a “good to be you” chuck on the shoulder. And we were not allowed to start thinking of things we wanted for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, because we had to be grateful for what we had before we thought about more. That is our family tradition. The Christmas tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving, kind of a Martha Stewart Boxing Day; we turn on the music and binge a film series and Get Merry.
Sorry about the Star Wars thing, but you get it, right? It all starts with adventure and peril, and you know it’s gonna eventually work out, but the middle is where all the emotion is, all the relationships and deep history and meaning. It’s the rug that really holds the room together (ok – no, that’s Lebowski): the realities of capitalism may merit preparedness in the face of fourth quarter profits, but life should not be binged; it’s not perfect but I don’t want to fast forward.
Anyway, my daughter agreed with the general premise, including the Thanksgiving as Episode V. thing, and in defiance, we bought a pillow with a jack-o-lantern on it that we found on a top shelf next to the motor oil, then walked right past that box of lights, even though I’ve been looking for them for three years now, because y’know what? It just wasn’t time yet.
Ewok '76.