Black Friday Starts on Thursday: Please Don't Do It!

I was in one of the dollar stores in town the other day and saw a sign saying they'd be closed on Thanksgiving. Good thing I said to the cashier. She agreed. She'll be home celebrating Thanksgiving with her family. But this morning when I turned on my computer I started getting all the alerts in my email box. J.C. Penney: Black Friday starts Thursday at 3:00 p.m. Joining Penney's is a long list: Macy's, Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Kohls, Old Navy, Dollar General, etc. ad nauseum.

I Won't Be Shopping on Black Friday!

Want to join me at Mass thanking the one who bought us -- and at what a price!

Buy-Buy-Buy! I Hate Black Friday!...

...and the Black Friday creep into Thanksgiving Day itself.

So I congratulate the stores below who are refusing to open on Thanksgiving. Employees deserve a break and a day to spend with their families.

Meet The Anti-Black-Friday-Creep Crowd

Why I Need This Holiday

By Alice Doyle

Last week I was sitting in my stylist’s chair, struggling to make small talk while she worked her magic on my hair. Thanksgiving was an obvious choice of topic, and I asked her what she would be doing. She told me she usually cooks for her extended family, but this year she had decided they would eat out so that she could start shopping when the stores opened at 5 PM. She elaborated, telling me that Black Friday is a tradition for her and her girlfriends who literally “shop ‘till they drop” from Thursday afternoon until Friday evening. 26 glorious hours of filling bags, trekking to the car and going back for more, more, more. More what? “You should see my girls’ lists! What don’t they want?”

The check-out clerk at Walmart told me she was working 2pm-11pm Thanksgiving Day. They don’t close lest the people arrive in droves and inadvertently trample someone on the way to the greatest buy. I asked her when she would celebrate Thanksgiving. She shrugged and said she wouldn’t but that her mother and brother would be celebrating. At the grocery store, I overheard a manager tell a customer, “We’re only open until 5pm on Thanksgiving. I’ll be out of here by 5:30 and maybe get a few leftovers.”

My fellow Americans—WHAT IS GOING ON? 

I have two concerns about all of this.

First, it is extremely un-American. Thanksgiving is our holiday, rooted in our nation’s infancy. It is an important part of our history. We should embrace it. One day of the year, set aside to give thanks and celebrate our tremendous blessings as a nation is, in the balance, the very least we can do. And yet, we aren’t doing it. Instead, we are rushing through and past the gratitude to the “more, more, more” that marks the celebration of Christmas.

Which is my second point. If you were the devil trying to distract the world from focusing on the poor, newborn babe in the manger, how would you do it? Rampant materialism might be a good place to start. The central message of Christmas is that God gave the world His best gift. His son, Jesus, is literally all we need. We do not need “door busters” regardless of the price. And yet, how many people will rush away from the good things in life today like good friends, family and the comforts of home in search of deals that will someday be so much junk in a landfill?

I saw an interesting sign recently: “If you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday, what would you have?” My honest answer? Not much. Which is why I need this holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pope Francis: The Joy of the Gospel #1

I've just started reading Pope Francis' apostolic exhortaton Evangelii Gaudium and I had to laugh and shake my head when I read this line:

The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.

Uh...sounds like a warning for Black Friday. Talk about "consumerism!" I wonder how many folks tomorrow will stuff themselves into a coma, take a nap, and then get up a few hours later to go out and shop on "Black Friday" eve. So many stores are advertising their Thanksgiving hours. It is absolutely pathetic.

Well, I will be where I am every Thanksgiving and Black Friday -- at home enjoying family and playing games with grandkids thanking God for all the blessings in my life which are too numerous to count! Shopping is NOT on my agenda! How about you?

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

On Black Friday...

...the best thing to do is stay home and take a walk. Just think of all the rude and unruly crowds you're missing. I wish we had crowds like that at morning Mass. (Sigh...)

Do You Shop on Black Friday?

I can't imagine any worse outing than going shopping on "black Friday." This is my day to make turkey soup and play games with grandkids. The last place I want to be is shopping. Soooo...do you go to the mall on this mega-shopping day? Do you enjoy the excitement of the "madding crowd" or do you stay at home like me? How do you spend the day after Thanksgiving?