As the holidays approach, students are looking forward to days of no class, family dinners and some quality time with their best friend, Netflix. But let’s get one thing straight. When I say the holidays, I mean to include, of course, Thanksgiving, which in my mind deserves all of our attention until the Friday after the feast.

My heart always breaks a bit for Thanksgiving, and I try to defend its honor at all costs, whether that be hissing at Christmas music, averting my eyes from holiday decorations or making a large effort to use the word Thanksgiving to inappropriately describe things around me.

I try not to blame my friends for glossing over Thanksgiving. It’s not their fault Thanksgiving is often unrecognized by American culture. There are no Thanksgiving radio stations, no limited-time Thanksgiving milkshakes and, more importantly no (excuse me, very few), Thanksgiving movies. What apart from the occasional sitcom special and “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” really gets people into the Turkey Day cheer? I’m not talking about movies set around late November with a Thanksgiving scene thrown in. I’m talking about a full-length feature film following a group of rag-tag teens selflessly defending Thanksgiving against the Christmas Ruffians, who have vowed to eliminate Thanksgiving one untimely decorated storefront at a time.

I would say Thanksgiving is arguably the most American holiday out there, second only to the 4th of July. It is a tribute to the everyday American joys, such as canned veggies, stuffing (both as a noun and a verb) and the ability to choose – whether that be dark meat or light meat, creamed corn or mashed potatoes or pie (so much pie) – as well as the ability to skip the choice and take more than you can eat. And all this celebration in the name of American history, family and football? Sign me up. Because, at the end of the day, we have our American values and capitalism to thank for providing so many leftovers at such affordable prices.

So, as Americans who love Thanksgiving, where are the movies that support our cause? Well I’ve already named one, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” which could be all you need for your turkey pre-game. But if you’re looking for more, try Steve Martin and John Candy’s Thanksgiving-centered comedy “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” The story follows Neal Page (Martin) as he fights to get home to his family for Thanksgiving. When his flight gets canceled, Page teams up with shower curtain ring salesman, Del Griffith (Candy), and together they exhaust every means of transportation to make it back in time for the feast.