Holiday Hustle

Every year, Christmas decorations start appearing earlier and earlier in stores.  This year, I began seeing Christmas trees at Macy’s starting in mid-October!

Don’t get me wrong.  I LOVE Christmas.  It is my favorite holiday (and my birthday, too!).  But, I think that we, as a nation, should slow things down a bit.

Halloween seems to get quite a bit of attention.  Specialty stores, such as the Spirit store and Johnny Brock’s Dungeon, pop up at the end of September in vacant store buildings across the country.  But what happens the day after Halloween?  They sell everything for 50% off in hopes of liquidating their merchandise and then they disappear into the wind.

The next logical step would be to think about Thanksgiving.  However, no one seems to focus on this forgotten holiday.  In fact, many stores are now staying open on Thanksgiving Day.

Why are we neglecting one of the most important American holidays (in my opinion)?  This day is about so much more than just gorging ourselves on delicious food and watching numerous football games.  We are supposed to be remembering the true significance of that day. 

People from two different nationalities came together to help each other survive and thrive.  Instead of fearing those that were different from us, we happily embraced the Indians (especially Squanto) for their vast knowledge of an unfamiliar land.  To pay respect and tribute those that came to the pilgrims’ aid, they set up a great feast in which they praised God for all of the bounties that they had received.

Now, hundreds of years later, we seem to have only one thing on our minds:  shopping.  Yes, that’s right.  We shovel in our food as fast as we can, bundle up our children and extended family members and head out to brave the elements in a shopping exstravaganza!

What does this say about us as Americans?  As we shove our way past other shoppers, trying to beat them to the biggest bargain, we are forgetting about some very important people:  the workers.  Those that we push all of our goodies to on the convayr belt, wishing they would hurry up so we can be our way to the next store.

And heaven forbid if the worker doesn't make small talk.  Did we ever stop to think for a moment that these people are being forced to work and cater to our narsasistic ways instead of being at home with their families?  That would tend to not make me a very friendly person, either.

Everyone deserves time off from work to enjoy the holidays with their family.  That is the point of a holiday, after all.  And to simply say, "They should get another job," is easier said than done thanks to our not-so-spiffy economy.

Once the dust has settled from Black Friday, we charge full speed ahead into Christmas.  But, I fear that we are missing the true point of this holiday, too.