To this?
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Posted on 11/18/2012 1:17:47 PM PST by Libloather
Is Black Friday edging out Thanksgiving?
By Bob Greene, CNN Contributor
updated 10:27 AM EST, Sun November 18, 2012
(CNN) -- The debate over whether the hand-to-hand-combat excesses of Black Friday represent a grotesque over-commercialization of the holiday season has lost its meaning.
The point is no longer whether or not Black Friday tarnishes the holidays.
The point is that Black Friday has become a holiday of its own.
It will arrive again this week, even as Americans are still sitting at their Thanksgiving dinner tables. Black Friday -- with its door-buster sales, hordes of frenzied shoppers shoving for position, employees nervously waiting for the onslaught -- has shrugged off the confines of its name and has now established squatters' rights on Thursday.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“Move dat cracker outta de way so I can get to my cheap stuff! Keep Obama in president!”
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Matt 6:24
What else is there to say. Of all the shopping days in the year these low IQ mutants would subject themselves to such cesspool scraping to 'save a few dollars'? --maybe.
I think for most of us it still is! The vast majority of Americans are home having dessert and maybe a turkey sandwich while those without a clue are off fighting one another for whatever. I refuse to believe they speak for America, and neither does the msm. It’s all hype to convince the dumb and dumber they really need to shop!
‘Stupid people are ruining America’-——Herman Cain
He who dies with the most toys wins!
Ok, to nonshopping Freepers, I’ll try to explain ... I did get a few really good deals last year at Black Friday — a really cheap coat for my son, (50% off for a quality down coat) and a few great deals on sweaters I gave for Christmas. When you are the Main Shopper in your family ...(which is most likely the mom/woman of the family) you sort of are drawn to it for the deals.
It’s more a chick holiday than anything else. A few friends and I met at 3 a.m. at TGI Fridays in bewtween shopping for drinks ...it was really kind of fun. There wasn’t really any shoving or pushing ...just serious shop until you drop frantic rushing around type behavior. When you’re on a limited budget, the deals can allow you do a little more for your family than you regularly would have.
That said, I do feel the shoving, trampling scenes are quite revolting in some stores.
I agree, utterly pathetic!
In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the 4th century, Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that this date was chosen in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. But it (Christmas) was only a regular Feast Day and not a major Feast Day – the Feast of the Epiphany was more important on the liturgical calendar.
During the Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations were more akin to Mardi Gras and were sort of a continuation and artifact of pagan Roman Saturnalia celebrations and Norse pagan traditions with much revelry and drunkenness. The poor would go to the houses of the rich and demand their best food and drink. If owners failed to comply, their visitors would most likely terrorize them with mischief (sounding a lot more like Halloween). Christmas became the time of year when the upper classes could repay their real or imagined "debt" to society by entertaining less fortunate citizens. Even in the early Victorian era when celebrating Christmas became more popular, carolers would sing in front of the houses of the wealthy and demand to be given some small token of money or food.
A glimpse into how Christmas was or wasn’t celebrated during the 1800’s can be found in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Bob Cratchit has to ask to have Christmas Day off from work and Scrooge only does so very begrudgingly. The truth is while it was becoming more customary to give workers the day off on December 25th, it was not officially a holiday where getting the day off was expected. And near the end of A Christmas Carol; note that Scrooges’ maid comes to work on Christmas morning as usual. She is shocked when Scrooge gives her money as a token and in celebration of Christmas but is even more shocked when he gives her the day off.
As far as Thanksgiving, days of thanksgiving were recognized in various parts of the country on different dates, usually more aligned with local harvests times and were in some traditions, a day of fasting and prayer and reflection rather than a day of feasting and celebration. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year but it wasn’t until 1789 when George Washington proclaimed the first official national day of Thanksgiving, one that it was recognized as an official “national” day of thanksgiving although it was not a “holiday” as in a day that people stopped working/were given the day off.
It wasn’t until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of “Thanksgiving” - in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” This national and federally recognized Thanksgiving was the final Thursday in November until 1939 when FDR moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression (and that my FRiends is how Thanksgiving got mixed up with Christmas and became the kick off of the Christmas shopping season). In many Southern states however, Lincoln’s “Thanksgiving” was not celebrated or recognized for many years.
I would also note that today a lot of people other than retail workers work on Thanksgiving and Christmas – think of police, firefighters, 9-11 operators, emergency utility workers, people in the military, hospital and nursing home workers….
Thanksgiving afternoon, the basket of Christmas books come out, and that evening the first of the Christmas stories were read. After children were in bed, we would put on the classical Christmas music, and I would begin the writing of the Christmas cards. Used to write close to a hundred, each with a personal note keeping in touch with favorite people and tell those we loved what they mean, and how truly thankful we were. One year for fun, we had a fresh baby. So I was Mary, Dad was Joseph Eldest was Angel, Second was shepard with stuffed lamb and youngest was King. and of course the fresh baby was the Christ child in the manger.
Fun times.
From Thanksgiving until Christmas, we decorated, made cookies, and opened Advent calendars. The only shopping besides food that we did was as a family for a needy family. And it was all done within a background of Christmas music that was about the Season, and stories about the Christmas. We owned and watched selected Christmas movies together each year. I cry at the Claymation ones from the sixties, for my grandmother and I watched them every year together.
We would cut a fresh tree each year and decorated in a magnificent fashion. Not only traditional ornaments, but souvenirs from trips, special booties and shoes and toys and jewelry were all on the tree. More of a memory tree.Everything on it had meaning.
Of course on Christmas eve we had special food, and tea and tea cakes while Luke was read. Then everyone was off to bed. In the morning, no one was allowed to go downstairs until every one was up in Mom and Dads room. Dad would check to see if everything was ok ( and turn on the Christmas lights and music) and we would all pray then troop downstairs to another wonderful Christmas Day!
Who are these camper-outers?
I shopped at Walmart last year after Thanksgiving dinner and it was a blast. Am looking forward to doing it again this year with a friend.
I’ll be doing my bit for the economy on Thursday evening. Walgreen’s is always open.
Seeing this story makes me glad that I have to work Friday until 5. I miss the entire thing.
Back in 2010, after being out of work for more than a year, the very first job I got was a part time seasonal job at Target. Of course I had to work Black Friday but then I was just so grateful to have a job, any job and was even more appreciative to work the Black Friday shift starting at Midnight because we were paid a .60 per hour holiday premium. And I have to say that the management at the Target store where I worked at showed their appreciation by providing food (breakfast, lunch and dinner), snacks, Christmas cookies and drinks that entire weekend and after the Christmas season was over, we all got $10 gift cards. I worked my but off (I worked the sales floor – stocking, helping customers, working a cash register when the lines got long) but I actually enjoyed it, especially working the toy aisle. On Black Friday I was assigned to help with crowd control – stationed to help move the line along in an orderly fashion and help customers or answer their questions. I had never been shopping on Black Friday myself but I was very impressed with how organized this store was. A few customers complained about the long lines but most told me they were very pleased with how fast the lines moved and how orderly it was.
Target is very active in promoting its sales on Facebook. They want to draw in customers and give them a good shopping experience. Good to hear that they treat their holiday employees well. As for all the big box stores like K-Mart, Walmart, etc., I try to hit them all at least once during the holiday shopping season.
God help us.it keeps getting worse,
God help us.it keeps getting worse,
God help us.it keeps getting worse,
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