It’s that time of year. The time when we should reflect on our blessings, savor family traditions, enjoy being together watching football or playing cards. One thing my family always enjoyed on Thanksgiving was poring over the Black Friday sales flyers in the paper, commenting on the deals – not that we ever participated in the Black Friday madness, we just liked looking at the paper. Over the years the deals have gotten crazier, the store hours earlier, the shopper behaviors more bizarre. Of course I have opinions about all of it, but I must confess: this year, my prevailing emotion is confusion.
This is a Boxing Day photo, not Black Friday, but the scene is the same.
Yes, I’m confused. Stores are opening at 6 pm Thursday, earlier than they’ve ever opened. That’s not what confuses me. What I don’t understand is why every major retailer is starting their “Black Friday specials” up to a week before Thanksgiving. What’s the point of opening so early if you’ve already had your sale going for a week? Yes, I know most of them are offering special deals on Thanksgiving, like extra discounts for a few hours, but what’s the point? Shoppers will have spent all their money by Thursday, right?
Is this just the retail world’s way of commercializing Thanksgiving like they’ve done every other holiday? They’ve managed to turn other traditionally non-gifting holidays, like Easter, into “let’s go talk to the Easter Bunny and see what he brings in your basket this year!” When I was a kid, Easter was jellybeans and coloring/hiding eggs, Valentine’s Day was making your “mailbox” at school to put your little cards in, and Thanksgiving was time to play with the cousins you rarely saw and eat yourself into a food coma. As an adult, Thanksgiving became my favorite holiday because of the lack of commercialization; it was just a time to be together, relax, visit, watch football. The only shopping was for groceries.
As a matter of fact, it’s still that for my family. If you decide to shop on Black Thanksfriday, have fun and please be careful, and thank the employees who are required to work so you can shop.
I’ll be in a food coma.
