Can
we talk about Thanksgiving and Black Friday and the fact that THE ONE
NON-COMMERCIAL, NON-RUINED BY SOCIETY holiday we had left has now
been high-jacked by the retail community and is no longer about
friends, family, pausing to be grateful, and just enjoying each
others company (and of course FOOTBALL) but just a day to quickly
shovel in some sustenance before heading out to the stores to be
trampled and perhaps killed for the latest and greatest in
electronics?
Phew.
I need to calm down. That first paragraph was one sentence, but I
feel extremely strongly about this. Extremely is probably not strong
enough of a word to describe how this pisses me off. I'm incensed.
Furious. Disappointed in society. ANGRY. Sad. Melancholy for the
“good old days”.
I'm
in the mood to boycott any and all stores until spring. (Well,
except my boys are growing like weeds and both need new wardrobes.
If they stand still long enough, which they don't, they certainly SIT
still long enough, but you can't really see someone growing when
their quickly expanding feet are tucked under their legs or under a
desk, and they're playing video games...but as I was saying before I
interrupted myself – you can see them growing
before your very eyes, much like aquaponic lettuce, but wow, I need
to calm down because:
- This is starting to be a jumbled mess, and
- I was talking about Thanksgiving, not my boys...
Thanksgiving
is my favorite day of the year. We have a wonderful tradition of
celebrating with a cousin on my mother-in-law's side and his entire
family. I've know The Engineer's family for 29 Thanksgivings, and
it's always been with those cousins. This makes for a table for
around 20-25 depending on who has a date, or who is bringing a
parent(s) from the other side of the family. Both hostesses love to
set an ELABORATE table. I mean, Martha Stewart would take notes.
Everyone brings a dish so the labor is divided, and you can always
see the TV from the kitchen so you can football it all up and
do dishes.
But
now, it's all changing. Thanksgiving isn't about family and
tradition and gratitude anymore. The ads for Black Friday (did you
even know what that meant 7-8 years ago?) started weeks ago. There
are pre-Black Friday specials. My mailbox, my inbox, my newspaper are STUFFED with ads.
Many
of my friends work in retail and have to be at work as early as 2 pm
to get ready for the pre-Black Friday early openings of so many major
stores. 2 pm is about when we sit down for our meal. It's not
right.
What
are we doing people? We're slowly being convinced that being
thankful, grateful, and focused on family isn't really that big of a
deal. No, the big deal is to be had at the store. Get shopping!
Buy something! No one has enough!
Thanks
for listening this far. I'm thankful for you wonderful friends and
the community we've built where we can discuss whatever we want.
What do you think about this whole mess?
~Tina
P.S
Briane Pagel (you must read and follow him, truly) also wrote a piece about how Thanksgiving is disappearing, but for a different reason.
(And his debunking of the Pilgrim story in quite a deliciously funny
read). Go. Please.
