Where did Thanksgiving go?

I feel like Thanksgiving is lost. It used to be its own holiday, full of meaning and history and tradition, but this year it seems to be the forgotten holiday.

Stores were decked out in Christmas garlands before Halloween, and Thanksgiving weekend is a blur of Black Friday ads and guides on how to get the best deal.

So we decided to do something a little different this year in my family to celebrate Thanksgiving and to help our daughter understand what the holiday means to us. We got up early Thanksgiving morning to pack 60 bagged lunches to be given out at a homeless shelter near our home.

My daughter drew rainbows and smiley faces on the bags while we made the sandwiches. The whole family chipped in so it only took a little more than an hour. And at the end, my daughter looked at all the brown paper bags and exclaimed, “Mom, can you believe how many people I helped feed!”

Amidst all the hoopla of the holidays, it was a wonderful moment to see my daughter value the work she had done to help someone else eat on Thanksgiving. I can’t think of any better way to give thanks for all my blessings than to share my bounty with others — which is what the true Thanksgiving holiday means to me.

How did you celebrate Thanksgiving this year? Do you feel like the holiday is being swallowed up by Christmas commercialism?

Erin Stewart is a regular blogger for Deseret News. From stretch marks to the latest news for moms, Stewart discusses it all while her 4-year-old daughter crams Mr. Potato Head pieces in her little sister’s nose.