Isn't it great that Christmas has already arrived? I mean, just look at W#&Mart and other chain stores, and even a few unchained stores, too. What I mean is, most of us still had stomach aches from consuming too many Halloween treats when these leading stores ushered in Christmas. Thanksgiving is just an after-thought to the holiday season. Wait a minute. Actually Thanksgiving is a "before-thought" to that most hallowed of days...Black Friday!
Black Friday, that day when millions of otherwise normal and intelligent Americans suddenly go berserk, waiting in lines for hours just to buy video games and computers, or even the latest telephone! It is so interesting that this, the biggest day of "Christmas Shopping," was named for one of the most terrible days in Wall Street history. But what is even more interesting to me is that so many retailers cannot even wait for Black Friday anymore. Christmas decorations and gifts go on "special" before the last Halloween costumes have been sold.
So corporate America forces us once again to ignore Thanksgiving Day by smothering us with Christmas even before November is old. Yes, the stores are full of the trappings of the upcoming Holiday Season. But I hope you will join me in slowing down just a bit, in remembering that between Halloween and Christmas, there comes another day, another holiday, one that is unique and significant to America. I hope we all can put all the gift-buying and gift-giving hype aside, just long enough to enjoy all the things we have to be thankful for.
I sometimes resent the way that stores try to nudge, no, shove us headlong, from holiday to holiday. What is the harm in letting the seasons pass their natural course? Let me answer my own question. The first answer is that that the faster each holiday occurs, the faster we part with our cash. The second answer is that the sooner that Christmas "starts," and the longer that Christmas "lasts," the MORE you and I will spend. There is the bottom line: Increased corporate greed means that the big companies want you and me to spend more money; therefore, Christmas "season" has grown longer and longer every year, until now it starts while ghosts and goblins still fill the air. I hope this trend stops someday. If it does not, you can bet we won't be able to by flags and ribbons for the Fourth of July anymore. Santa and his elves will be taking up all the shelf room. I want to eat my turkey before roasting chestnuts over the open fire. By the way...only 40 more SHOPPING DAYS till Christmas!
Black Friday, that day when millions of otherwise normal and intelligent Americans suddenly go berserk, waiting in lines for hours just to buy video games and computers, or even the latest telephone! It is so interesting that this, the biggest day of "Christmas Shopping," was named for one of the most terrible days in Wall Street history. But what is even more interesting to me is that so many retailers cannot even wait for Black Friday anymore. Christmas decorations and gifts go on "special" before the last Halloween costumes have been sold.
So corporate America forces us once again to ignore Thanksgiving Day by smothering us with Christmas even before November is old. Yes, the stores are full of the trappings of the upcoming Holiday Season. But I hope you will join me in slowing down just a bit, in remembering that between Halloween and Christmas, there comes another day, another holiday, one that is unique and significant to America. I hope we all can put all the gift-buying and gift-giving hype aside, just long enough to enjoy all the things we have to be thankful for.
I sometimes resent the way that stores try to nudge, no, shove us headlong, from holiday to holiday. What is the harm in letting the seasons pass their natural course? Let me answer my own question. The first answer is that that the faster each holiday occurs, the faster we part with our cash. The second answer is that the sooner that Christmas "starts," and the longer that Christmas "lasts," the MORE you and I will spend. There is the bottom line: Increased corporate greed means that the big companies want you and me to spend more money; therefore, Christmas "season" has grown longer and longer every year, until now it starts while ghosts and goblins still fill the air. I hope this trend stops someday. If it does not, you can bet we won't be able to by flags and ribbons for the Fourth of July anymore. Santa and his elves will be taking up all the shelf room. I want to eat my turkey before roasting chestnuts over the open fire. By the way...only 40 more SHOPPING DAYS till Christmas!
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