Thanksgiving is my favorite day of the year. I even like it better than Halloween and my birthday. Each year on Thanksgiving, we invite close friends over and my mom cooks turkey and makes other Thanksgiving-related foods. I love it not just because of the food (although it is delicious), but also for how nice and warm the house feels when everyone comes over.

I love the loud conversations and hearing everyone laugh. I love playing games with the other kids. And I love it when the fireplace is crackling and everyone is just sitting around and talking.

The day before Thanksgiving is also great. My family is rushing around trying to make sure the house is clean, and the anticipation keeps building and building until Thursday at 4:30 pm when I’m just sitting and waiting for people to show up. And my mom is cooking turkey and stuffing and the house smells amazing.

And of course, the day after Thanksgiving is great because we get to eat leftover turkey and cornbread and mashed potatoes and drink turkey soup.

I know not every family spends Thanksgiving this way. But there’s this part of me that feels, regardless of how it’s done, Thanksgiving should be spent with family. So it made me kind of sad when I heard that Black Friday deals started early this year and people spent Wednesday and Thursday shopping. It also seems ironic that a day that should be spent being thankful for what you already have is instead spent shopping for more things.

It’s always bothered me that of all the holidays, Thanksgiving seems to be the most neglected. People go right from Halloween decorations to Christmas lights. Stores play Christmas music. I mean, I know there isn’t really any Thanksgiving music, but couldn’t we hold off on the Christmas carols until December? With poor Thanksgiving already being sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas, and now Black Friday encroaching upon it, it really seems like it is being stolen.

I don’t have a problem with Black Friday being on Friday. But it does make me upset when it starts kicking Thanksgiving, my favorite day of the year, out of the way.

The Grinch may not have succeeded at stealing Christmas, but it seems like Black Friday is getting closer and closer to stealing Thanksgiving.