A Thanksgiving lament...

First and foremost, I will tell you I am NOT a "Black Friday" shopper. Have never understood why anyone would fight such crowds to shop for a holiday that's supposed to be all about peace and love. And what's with the name?

To me, this says it almost says it all:
 

The only reason it isn't totally spot on is that it doesn't mention those who pay the biggest price (pun intended) for all the Black Friday shoppers...the employees of all the stores.
It isn't enough that we can no longer allow the holiday's and the seasons to flow from one to another in their natural courses. Halloween, Fall, Thanksgiving, Winter, Christmas...
Even before the shelves are cleared from Halloween, we see Christmas decorations...even before we've finished digesting our Thanksgiving dinners, the frantic shopping starts...advertisements, decorations and now store openings are destroying one of our oldest traditions as Americans. Thanksgiving itself. Once upon a time, the Christmas season officially started with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade which EVERYONE watched. Especially us kids who wanted to get our first glimpse of Santa! In those days, the Christmas season was a magical time and in no little way was helped by the fact that it didn't have to compete with Thanksgiving.

How does it make you feel to know that because of this vicious cycle, the workers themselves have no choice but to leave their holiday festivities early or forego them entirely in order to stock, fold, check out, and sometimes even break up fights?

Some of the biggest offenders are:
Macy's, Best Buy, Toys-R-Us, Wal-Mart and K-Mart.
But, never fear, Wal-Mart assures us their employees want to work...all 1million of them...even though over 30,000 signed a petition asking the hierarchy NOT to open on Thanksgiving. And then there is K-Mart, not content to open at 5pm or 6pm on Thanksgiving...they're opening at 6AM...you read that right...and will stay open for 41 hours straight in order to better serve you.

I applaud those companies (and yes, there are a few of them) who refuse to decorate or advertise for Christmas until it's proper time...

In case you haven't guessed, you will not see me fighting the crowds at 6pm on Thanksgiving or at midnight or at 4:35am on 11/29/13 in order to get special pricing. You see, I like to take my time, enjoy the season and the lights and the music, and wander the stores waiting for that special gift for that special someone to jump out at me. Shopping is part of the fun of the season...and there is really plenty of time to get it done.