...that Thanksgiving in the US is being run over by Christmas shopping.
Many stores are now opening on Thanksgiving Day, starting the "shopping season" off early.
Imagine having to rush your meal so that you can get to work early because your store wants to get on with raking it in instead of giving employees a day to enjoy, along with the rest of the country.
Or the people rushing to get done with dinner so they can be first in line to shop.
This is making me angry, and i'm not the only one. The DJ's on the station i listen to are peeved about the loss of setting aside a day to be thankful, as a country, for all of our blessings.
Even if you don't have any formal beliefs, gratitude is good to practice. It keeps us humble, remembering that we are not the source, or center, of everything.
What i would love to see is for this to end up being a big flop. People staying away in droves, or even boycotting the stores that participate in the madness.
It won't happen, of course. Too many people will be afraid of missing a deal.
They are forgetting that they are missing something much more important.
An attitude of gratitude, and taking the time out to show it.
Today is:
American Enterprise Day -- US
America Recycles Day -- US
Changeling Restitution Day -- Fairy Calendar (Goblins)
Day of the German-speaking Community of Belgium -- German-speaking Community of Belgium
Don't Try To Do Everything At Once Day -- internet generated, and a blow to us multitaskers
Ennead Feast in the House of Ra, Horus, and Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar
George Spelvin Day
I Love to Write Day (perfect, in the middle of NaNoWriMo)
International Day of the Indian -- Declared by World Council of Indigenous Peoples in 1997
King's Feast / Dynasty Day -- Belgium
National Bundt Pan Day -- yes, really, celebrating the pan itself
National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day
National Peace Day -- Cote d'Ivoire
National Raisin Bran Cereal Day
National Spicy Hermit Christmas Cookie Day
Nativity Fast begins a/k/a Winter Lent (through Dec 24) -- Orthodox Christian
Republic Proclamation Day -- Brazil
Shichi-Go-San (Shrine Visiting Day) and the Seven-Five-Three Festival -- Japan
Sing in Your Car Day -- they need a day for this?
St. Albertus Magnus' Day (Patron of science students, scientists, and technologists)
St. Leopold's Day (Patron of Austria)
Use Less Stuff Day -- on some websites, listed as Nov. 18; either day, it's a good idea
Birthdays Today:
Kevin Eubanks, 1957
Sam Waterston, 1940
Petula Clark, 1932
Ed Asner, 1929
Bill "C.W. McCall" Fries, 1928
Joseph Wapner, 1919
Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887
F. William Herschel, 1738
William Pitt the Elder, 1708
Today in History:
Christopher Columbus notes the first recorded reference to tobacco, 1492
The NY General Assembly permits Jews to omit the phrase "Upon the faith of a Christian" from adjuration oaths, 1727
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying the Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, 1763
The Articles of Confederation are adopted by the Continental Congress, 1777
Georgetown University, the first Catholic college in the US, opens, 1791
Zebulon Pike gets his first sight of Pike's Peak, Colorado, 1806
Isaac Pitman introduces his steno/shorthand system of writing, 1832
Union Major General Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia, 1864
King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade, 1904
The first telecast of an unscheduled event, a fire, takes place on W2XBT, in NY, 1938
In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy's restaurant, 1969
Intel releases world's first commercial single-chip microprocessor, 1971
René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois take power to become the first Quebec government of the 20th century clearly in favour of independence, 1976
The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, 1985
An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council, 1988
The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands, 1988
Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5000 people and destroyed the world's largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans, 2007
Friendly Fill-Ins Week 443
14 hours ago
Very well said, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Hilary.
ReplyDeleteThis season has become too much, over the top, let me off the ride crazy.
I was just listening to the news, and it sounds like lots of the clerks and service people at the stores are going to call in 'sick', because THEY think it's a stupid idea, and want to stay home with family, too!
ReplyDeleteSo, yes, I agree with you. (And I am now informally boycotting one radio station I listen to that is playing CHRISTMAS MUSIC already...)
Sigh.
Cat
Cat, we have one that starts Christmas music the first week of November. By Thanksgiving, it isn't special any more. So i won't listen to that, either.
ReplyDelete