Yes, it's Thanksgiving, which is a day we're all supposed to sit around, eat a ton, watch football, and be thankful for the abundance we have. However, let's talk about what Thanksgiving has become: The final barrier to Christmas holiday shopping.
I'm one of those people who doesn't start shopping really early. I don't like seeing Christmas decorations in the stores in September. I don't try to find out Black Friday shopping deals. I like the Christmas season to start the day after Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately, apparently I'm in the minority because Christmas keeps creeping in all around. The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival was the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Christmas lights in my neighborhood went up that same weekend. The Christmas tree lot near me had trees ready to go yesterday. Yesterday! Do you need a Christmas tree before Thanksgiving? How can it possibly last a full month without drying out (especially if you have radiator heat)? I've gotten five million--and counting--Christmas catalogs from retailers, hoping I'll drop some money with them.
A German colleague of mine who's celebrating his first Thanksgiving this year remarked how interesting it was that Americans had this holiday that was totally not commercial. It's true. There's not that much money to be made on Thanksgiving--just food and maybe some tableware or a greeting card, but you're not expected to spend money on this day. It's kind of refreshing that we still have one holiday where you don't have to buy a present in order to make it a special day.
But heaven forbid we spend too long basking in all that we have. We've got to get up early on Friday to get all our shopping started so we can have more more MORE! JC Penney and Kohl's are opening at 4 AM because they know you're just itching to spend money. After all, you probably just went a whole day without buying anything. Better give you as much time as possible on Friday to make up for it!
When retailers try to force the shopping and the "deals" down my throat though, it has a bit of a reverse effect on me. I don't want to shop on Black Friday, and I kind of want to put off Christmas shopping as long as possible. It's not that I'm waiting for prices to go down further, it's because I'm sick of hearing about how important holiday shopping is to retailers and the economy, and that when people don't shop, retailers get really desperate and then we hear crap on how it's our patriotic duty to shop because that keeps the economy going. I don't really understand how my buying a $29 DVD player or three (or whatever the big steal is this year) helps the economy. I do know buying a lot of stuff keeps money out of my savings account, which means less interest for me, and that makes me an unhappy person.
And that's not quite the mood you want to be in during the holiday season. Am I right?
jilljaracz 