I speak for the Turkey for the Turkey's tongue is cooked.

This week at the happiest place on earth marked the second week that we had Mickey’s not-so-scary Halloween party. It’s also September, and 90 degrees outside. Despite all of that, we’re still partying.

When I was a kid, I remember Halloween being something that we never planned so far in advance. My mother and I would always forget about it until a friend would invite me to go trick or treating with them 3 days before the holiday and then we’d have to get creative at the thrift store. We came up with some pretty unorthodox costumes though, my favorites being a Chimney Sweep and Static Cling.

 Our trips were almost always rounded off with a hasty trip to Wegmans to get candy because apparently my mother, the efficiency expert  who micromanaged every other area of our lives, had forgotten about the hordes of children that were going to be knocking on our door soon, forcing human interact instead of her usual night time ritual. Personally, I think interrupting her would be something scarier than any haunted house I’ve ever been to, but I guess I’ve just interrupted her one too many times. It was never a holiday that was that big of a deal to us.

But here at Disney, holidays are a BIG deal. There are special parties (case and point with our Halloween party) where all the characters come out and play and there are no lines at Space Mountain that people pay top dollar for tickets to. I knew that taking this internship would mean that I would be working all the holidays. While that sucks for not being with my family, I had heard of and was excited to experience the legendary tales of the holidays, especially Christmas, at Disney.

We’re in the throes of Halloween right now, and although the party is rather capitalistic like much else at Disney, it’s a good time. Coming from a world where Halloween was only a precursor to the real holidays, I was excited to see what else was coming.  Christmas is the holiday when the world is really allowed to go over the top, and in our haste to get there, we always jump the gun. It always drove me crazy that Christmas would start in October. Never mind that it vaguely robbed Halloween of its thunder, everyone always forgot about Thanksgiving.

 (Just as a side note to how unimportant thanksgiving is, just as I was typing it I forgot to capitalize it, and autocorrect didn’t do it for me. Even Microsoft Word doesn’t care about Thanksgiving.)

Truly, I think that Thanksgiving has the nicest idea for a holiday. No matter the religious background that is basis for most of the remaining large holidays, all parents want their kids to be polite. My dad told me to say please and thank you way more often than he told me to recite the Nicene Creed. And the whole day is about saying thank you. What a nice idea- very Disney.

Therefore, I was ready, ready for the day that Thanksgiving would have its time to shine. Never mind that it would be the first time in 20 years that I wouldn’t be with my family playing Pirate Bingo. Forget that my Black Friday team was going to be in New York, and not at my side, ready to throw elbows if need be. And instead of celebrating my 21^st birthday in Chicago with my friends and a built in designated driver in the CTA, I was going to be pouring beer for other people. It was all okay because I was finally going to see Thanksgiving being appreciated.

So imagine my disappointment when I learned that we go seamlessly from Halloween into Christmas. In fact, we set up for Christmas while the Halloween decorations are still up. For a Cast Member that is privy to seeing all of these secret overlapping things, I finally know how A Nightmare Before Christmas was made. Apparently the author saw this transition and got inspired instead of pissed. Maybe someday this will happen to me. But that day is not today.

I may have my soul owned by Disney, but I am going to take a stand! I will be saying Happy Thanksgiving the whole month of November, not just the day of. Really, it’s one of the few holidays that it’s politically correct to specifically wish people well on. Not happy Holidays, Happy Thanksgiving, damnit! I’m going to sing songs about Turkey and Pilgrims and if there are none, then I will make some!

It’s time that the world stopped treating Thanksgiving as the red-headed stepchild of the holiday world. It has feelings too and all it wants is to be noticed. We have a month to prepare people. I ask you all to join me. Think about how you would feel if you were Thanksgiving, and sing a damn turkey carol when you flip your calendar page to November. It’s ours to take back, if we are ready for the challenge.