Does anybody else find it interesting how it seems like all the giving thanks happens at Christmas, and not at thanksgiving?

I think it has to do with the passage of time in relation to the fall of the holidays. In the US, Thanksgiving heralds the beginning of the holiday season...I'm not talking about the overt capitalistic crap like Black Friday and the Christmas merchandise explosions, but rather the spiritual headspace shift that many experience. Thanksgiving serves to prime the pump, to get us thinking and reflecting a little more deeply about our lives and those around us. By Christmas, if we are so inclined, we have immersed ourselves in introspection
and are peaking in self-awareness; moreover, the nearness of year's end adds to our thoughts an accounting of sorts as we prepare to start a new year on a fresh page in the book of our lives. Thus it is natural on this day--for many that of the most dear of family gatherings that they will have in a given year--for us to share with those we care about our thoughts and feelings, specifically in regards to said people's impact on our lives. We give thanks, we share gratitude for both our blessings and for the pitfalls we have managed to avoid or surmount. We also share hope, looking out on the possibilities open to us as a new year unfolds and we slough off the last vestiges of the passing year's troubles and concerns.
That's how I see it, anyway...take what you like and leave the rest.
