Thanksgiving Day used to be a quiet day with family, eating
turkey and pumpkin pie, seeing those relatives you hate but only for a
few hours (Anything is tolerable when displayed in short duration). The
family would sit in the living room and chat (embarrassing the kids with
alleged "cute" stories of their early childhood clumsy ways) and maybe
watch the one football game on TV. That was it. There weren't many other
options than that. But no more.
Thanksgiving has gone from family to frenzy. There are a multitude of sports and special events on TV, the stores are hawking their Christmas sales even on Thanksgiving Day, and people fly away from Uncle Fred and Aunt Mildred by taking a Thanksgiving vacation far away from family. The biggest day for flying in the U.S. is Thanksgiving Day, and it's not all passengers flying to see relatives on the day. Just as many others are off to ski or frolic apart from the Thanksgiving tradition. Just about everything is open for business on Thanksgiving, to the extent that many families eat their Thanksgiving meal in restaurants.
It's all fine. Holiday traditions change but the most annoying aspect of Thanksgiving today is the retail blitz of their "Christmas sales". A few years ago some retailers switched from the midnight day after Thanksgiving sale to Thanksgiving sales. Now they open at 12 am Thanksgiving morning instead of the day after Thanksgiving. This means mom is at the mall instead of cooking the turkey, chasing after a loss leader sale items amidst the mobs of crazed shoppers who image they have to buy "now" or they won't see a fair price later.
Of course the sales are, by and large, not special. A few days after the crazed Thanksgiving day/night mobs clean the shelves there are more sales just as big as what is offered on Thanksgiving Day. The problems is an addicted shopper forgets that fact and hallucinates that he or she has to buy on Thanksgiving to get the best bargains. Maybe shopping is a new sport and the shoppers see it as a competition. Every year hordes of shoppers are trampled, hit, or otherwise abused physically while fighting over that last sale item on display.
It's not for me. I avoid malls even on normal shopping days. It may be the only "normal" thing I do all year.
Thanksgiving has gone from family to frenzy. There are a multitude of sports and special events on TV, the stores are hawking their Christmas sales even on Thanksgiving Day, and people fly away from Uncle Fred and Aunt Mildred by taking a Thanksgiving vacation far away from family. The biggest day for flying in the U.S. is Thanksgiving Day, and it's not all passengers flying to see relatives on the day. Just as many others are off to ski or frolic apart from the Thanksgiving tradition. Just about everything is open for business on Thanksgiving, to the extent that many families eat their Thanksgiving meal in restaurants.
It's all fine. Holiday traditions change but the most annoying aspect of Thanksgiving today is the retail blitz of their "Christmas sales". A few years ago some retailers switched from the midnight day after Thanksgiving sale to Thanksgiving sales. Now they open at 12 am Thanksgiving morning instead of the day after Thanksgiving. This means mom is at the mall instead of cooking the turkey, chasing after a loss leader sale items amidst the mobs of crazed shoppers who image they have to buy "now" or they won't see a fair price later.
Of course the sales are, by and large, not special. A few days after the crazed Thanksgiving day/night mobs clean the shelves there are more sales just as big as what is offered on Thanksgiving Day. The problems is an addicted shopper forgets that fact and hallucinates that he or she has to buy on Thanksgiving to get the best bargains. Maybe shopping is a new sport and the shoppers see it as a competition. Every year hordes of shoppers are trampled, hit, or otherwise abused physically while fighting over that last sale item on display.
It's not for me. I avoid malls even on normal shopping days. It may be the only "normal" thing I do all year.
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