Every eight years, Nov. 1 falls on a Thursday and Thanksgiving falls on its earliest possible date, Nov. 22.

Among other things, the early holiday provides students a timely reprieve from fall quarter drudgery, gives compulsive holiday shoppers a few extra days for their compulsiveness and slightly decreases the likelihood of winter weather travel disasters.

Many students have already headed home for the holiday, as evidenced by today’s partially vacated campus. For those of us sticking close to Seattle, it looks (for now) as though the local weather may even be reasonable.

But no matter how bright things are looking at holiday time, it seems there is always a core of loudmouth rabble-rousers seeking to ruin the celebration. I’m not talking about the ones who simply see things differently — I’m talking about the ones who figure the holidays are the perfect time to push agendas.

Neither Dickens nor Dr. Seuss ever addressed Thanksgiving dissidents that I’m aware of. So I’m not exactly sure what to call these people at this time of year. Perhaps it’s implicit that Scrooge and the Grinch hated Thanksgiving also (pre-reformation, naturally).

There is no question holidays are a time of excess. We spend too much, eat too much, drive too much and waste too much. In that sense, you might say holidays are a lot like the rest of the year.

Why, then, should it come as a surprise to environmental advocates that a record number of holiday travelers will be out on U.S. highways this Thanksgiving weekend putting record levels of Thanksgiving carbon emissions into the atmosphere? Very little has been done the remainder of the year to make other transportation options available.

Are holiday travelers to stay home? Probably not, so it’s probably best to quit fretting about it. I’m guessing the “record number” of American travelers also has something to do with the record number of Americans — more than 300,000,000 by the last count — a separate and thoroughly non-holiday problem, to be sure.

How about the anti-turkey dinner crusaders? I guess the folks at PETA figure the days before Thanksgiving provide the perfect opportunity to convince average omnivorous people to swear off meat, because they try really hard every year.

New this year is an undercover turkey farm “documentary” (term used loosely), Butterball’s House of Horrors. It’s as dramatic as it sounds. After you watch the video, you can “Pledge to Go ‘Cold Turkey’” although you will be required to submit your email address to PETA to do so.

If only the national media would pledge to quit covering PETA, an organization led by an antisocial fanatic who, according to Newsweek, “defends controversial ad campaigns comparing the suffering of animals to African slaves and Jews during the Holocaust.” This is not the kind of holiday cheer we need.

Lastly — perhaps a minor contention — I wonder how many years it will be before the experts are satisfied that the myths of the first Thanksgiving have been sufficiently dispelled. The Seattle School District recently sent teachers a letter reminding them of these myths.

It is no secret that pilgrims were not the friendly bunch of buckle brandishers seen in children’s books and cartoons. American Indians suffered horribly at the pilgrims’ hands, and harvest celebrations were a thing of American Indians long before the pilgrims arrived.

And while the human and cultural tragedy that early European settlement brought to the United States should never be forgotten, decrying Thanksgiving won’t correct history’s wrongdoings.

Many holidays are based on questionable premises or dependent on peculiar traditions. But holidays and celebrations, if only for the sake of celebration, are a global and deeply human phenomenon.

Although it’s hard not to be a bit jaded by the commercialism of modern celebrations, the holiday season is the only time many of us — students, faculty and even administrators — get a chance to spend time with family and old friends.

If that sounds too old fashioned, you’ve probably been watching too much TV news.

[Reach columnist Andrew D. Brown at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]