All I want for Thanksgiving is…

Every year Christmas gets earlier and earlier, yet another retail conspiracy. This year I saw Christmas goods out before I saw anything for Halloween! Eventually the costumes and pumpkins took their rightful place of prominence in retail stores. But I couldn’t help noticing a certain jolly ol’ elf lurking around in the stores. Once Halloween is over its time to deck the halls right? Wrong my friend that’s what they want you to think. It’s time for one of the most important holidays of the year—Thanksgiving. Before I go on further I want to say that the true reasons for Christmas and Easter certainly offer grounds for celebration. Sadly they are often morphed into a candy-induced "what’s in it for me" fest.

Thanksgiving is a day to be happy, thankful, and content with what we have. We celebrate with our family, whether biological, extended, or those close to us that we consider family. Family is truly something to be thankful for. This gratitude and contentment goes against the grain of retail goals. What they desire is someone who wants what they don’t need or wants an excess of what they already have. By moving their season of buying to overlap with Halloween they are trying to skip this day of gratitude. Retailers have gala sales to celebrate when at last this day is over. Like the end of a period of tyranny they joyously open their doors, often earlier than normal, to welcome back throngs of eager shoppers.

This holiday season let us remember the true reason we have these special occasions and why they are called holidays (Old English hāligdæg meaning holy day).

And if you are a day after Thanksgiving shopper I don't mean to offend; this was an exaggeration.