Recently, I posted this picture on my regular Facebook page because 1) I agreed with it and 2) it's my page. I'll do what I want. Despite the fact that I was stating that MY family would not be shopping on Thanksgiving, the responses were a mixture of positive and negative with a few people asserting Thanksgiving is a day for family and a few pointing out that not everyone in the U.S. celebrates Thanksgiving, people need the extra money that working on a holiday brings in, people are looking for a bargain in "this economy" and the economy could use the boost. I conceded that they were all valid points and that people who don't celebrate Thanksgiving should be able to do as much Christmas shopping as they want on Turkey Day.
Wait. What? Here's why it didn't sit well with me, all disgusting Black Friday displays of greed and whatever the heck it is that drives us to chant,"push the doors in!" and stampede into a store or fight one another for the last Turbo Man Action Doll aside. The U.S. is a culturally Christian nation. We may not go to church or worship God any more, but we follow a calendar based on the Christian traditions. Our Founding Fathers may have been Deists or Clock Winders and may have referred to God as Providence, but they came from a Christian background and that's where a lot of their ideas came from. Most of us who were born and raised here in the States are at least culturally Christian. Which means we celebrate Christmas AND Thanksgiving. I hate to Should on anyone, but here it is. I think, if you're going to celebrate a Christian holiday, you should honor it fully. If you celebrate Christmas, you shouldn't go shopping on Thanksgiving. I know some of my readership of 20 will be offended by that statement. I know it's not politically correct. If you fall into that category, remember: I do what I want! The majority of people who don't celebrate Thanksgiving also probably don't celebrate Christmas (although I have read that the holiday is becoming more commonly celebrated in other cultures around the world), so they're probably not in a big hurry to go Christmas shopping. Sure, I guess they can work while we all rush out after a dinner celebrating being Thankful for family and friends and all sorts of intangible gifts from The Universe formerly known as Providence and fight to get the cheapest presents so we can get more, More, MORE!, but I don't think we should.
