Originally Shared By a Friend {{name not posted}} but his feelings in this are shared by my family and I also, as well as many others.
While growing-up, I guess I took it for granted that my entire family would gather around a table and take in all the joys of Thanksgiving. What did the day offer? It began with waking-up to the intense smell of wonderful food cooking in the kitchen. Everything, down to the pasta, was homemade.
Then, there was a trip to Mass to give thanks to God for the many blessings we were given (even though sometimes life was filled with difficulties, we knew there was strength needed to get through them). Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was a must. Hours later, family would arrive (many members) and gather around a table where a feast would last for hours on end… Filled with laughter, intense conversation, and priceless moments of family bonding.
The kids would all watch “March of the Wooden Soldiers” and then pies, cakes, pastries, nuts, and many more hours of talking until it was time to dig into the leftovers. Our family day was completed late in the evening and then everyone went home and the house was cleaned-up.
NO ONE felt the need to shop and spend precious time fighting with other consumers that had been groomed to believe that “SHOPPING” and not family time was the focus of the day. Retail is winning a war on family time. Each year, these monsters on Wall Street develop ways of enticing more people into leaving their families and “experience” Black Friday or shopping on Thanksgiving Day.
Forgive me by stepping on anyone’s “fun”…but if shopping is the focus of the holidays, there is no real holiday. Yes it is true, doctors, nurses, military personal, rescue workers and first responders all must work on Thanksgiving (trust me…my father was a fire captain, so I know), but if our society places all emphasis on this shopping frenzy, then we have lost our collective soul.
So, if you are out there shopping on Thanksgiving, I hope that somehow your needs are met. As for me, I’ll be eating my turkey sandwich at 8:00PM nestled in-between my family watching a movie and being Thankful I have something to be Thankful for.
– A Friend, A Teacher, A Mentor