Happy Franksgiving!

I didn’t learn this until a recent vacation to Plymouth, Massachusetts but in 1939, American President FDR actually made a presidential proclamation to move Thanksgiving from the last Thursday of November to the second-to-last one, for the purposes of stimulating the economy. At least back then, retailers never promoted the Christmas season until after Thanksgiving had passed; this idea of adjusting the date of Thanksgiving,in theory, would provide retailers another week to sell for the busy Christmas season. From what I gathered, this did not sound like an universally popular idea, leading to some states celebrating the day one day, others another and still 3 states recognized both days. The dislike and confusion of “Franksgiving” led to a more formal resolution a few years later to move Thanksgiving back to the last Thursday of the month. Even considering the national economic situation at that time, it still feels weird to think about a time when retailers would show such restraint in preparing for the Christmas season. In a word that I generally never use to describe the past, the idea sounds so….quaint. So…Pet Shop Boys.

Wait, hang on. Does your family celebrate Thanksgiving? Because you're not American but you live in the US.

thanksgiving except it’s franksgiving and you either need to star every sentence with “to be Frank;”, gift someone named Frank (first or last, fictional works too) a token of your worship and appreciation, or send a letter to castle Frankenstein begging to be let in whilst they’re renovating to see if you can find frankenstien’s monster.