I have no problem with buying presents for Christmas; it has been part of the Christmas tradition for a very long time. I have no problem with wanting to save money; things are far too expensive to not care how much they cost. I have no problem with going to a sale; gifts for loved ones can be bought while saving money at the same time. I have no problem with businesses making money; you go into business to make money. Fine? Fine.
So, at this time of year, you might be wondering what my issue is. My issue is what this time of year has become, or should I say how it has deteriorated.
When I was wee young lad, turning the clocks back forty to forty-five years, this time of year was far, far different. It was different at home and in the stores. Some homes would have some Thanksgiving decorations and a few stores did as well. Thanksgiving was an entity unto itself, and not just because it fell on a separate date from Christmas.
Not that it's completely lost nowadays, but Thanksgiving had a meaning and held a meaning for people. It was the day for family gatherings, family reunions, and, most importantly, for giving thanks for what you have. Far more people and families back then, I dare say, took the giving thanks part seriously. The mindset was different then, in that acknowledging what you have, regardless of how much or how little you had, was important. It was not just a going through the motions, but an annual ritual that showed mindfulness and gratitude.
Christmas, on the other hand, was its own creature, too. Home Christmas decorations were far more prevalent then than now. I remember as clearly as it was yesterday my father taking me for a ride at night to go around and look at all the homes decorated for Christmas, and I know other families did that. That, too, was a tradition for some.
Stores would slowly put up a few, just a few, Christmas decorations prior to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Usually it was just strings of lights, fake snow (the kind you spray on windows and spread out on shelves and displays), and maybe artificial Christmas trees for sale. Once that Friday arrived, however, it seemed that the decorations multiplied. I presume folks came in or stayed over on Thanksgiving Eve, after their store closed, and finished decorating the stores. This way, the stores would appear magical when they reopened after being closed for the holiday...and they were closed for the holiday.
Thanksgiving is probably the only non-religious holiday that's specifically meant for giving thanks. (Well, unless you count Groundhog Day, and being thankful if the groundhog does not see his shadow, meaning an early Spring.) Christmas is a religious holiday marking the birth of Jesus. The thing is, aside from cognitively knowing these things, maybe, you would not recognize them anymore.
Television shows for children, such as 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', and 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', among others, never aired before Thanksgiving. Never! Live actions shows like Bing Crosby Christmas specials, variety show specials, and Bob Hope's entertaining the troops in Vietnam, to name a few, also aired after Thanksgiving. They were for Christmas, and Christmas comes after Thanksgiving. It was like that for decades and all was right with the world. The public never complained; companies never complained.
In the past twenty years or so, and even more intensely in the past ten years, a change has been happening. I call it the neutering of Thanksgiving and the forcing of Christmas. When a store advertised a Thanksgiving sale, the sale was over by the end of the day on Thanksgiving Eve. Thanksgiving was a holiday, and holidays meant something to proprietor, employee, and customer alike.
Thanksgiving is becoming just another Christmas shopping day. There are stores this year opening as early as 6:00 p.m., on Thanksgiving night and remaining open overnight to the end of the shopping day on Black Friday. This is after stores were opening at 7:00 a.m., then, 5:00 a.m., then midnight on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving Day has crept up from 10:00 p.m., to 8:00 p.m., and now 6:00 p.m. How long do you think it will be before stores are open regular Thursday hours on Thanksgiving Day itself?
For several years now, a few radio stations have started playing Christmas music -- some of them playing only Christmas music -- before Thanksgiving. That, too, never happened years ago. This year, two stations near me began playing music around the second week of November. I am one of those folks who really doesn't want to hear Christmas tunes until after Thanksgiving, and then I listen to them with great joy. Television commercials with distinctive Christmas themes started airing around the same time.
Do I hate Christmas? Absolutely not. Granted, it doesn't hold as much significance as it did when I was much younger, but hate it? No. My point is that consumers and companies alike knew Christmas would get here when it got here, and decorations and sales came around in due course.
Now, Thanksgiving is just another Christmas shopping day. (What difference does one extra day make, anyway?) Families still gather and give thanks on Thanksgiving, but the real meaning of the day, on a broad scale, has been neutered. The radio stations and stores that play Christmas tunes so early, since Christmas has been so commercialized, have turned those festive musical treats into clarion calls to consumerism. That is a forcing of Christmas.
All of this is also a devaluing of the family. Make a holiday for thanks into another work day: your family can wait. Make the consumerism aspect of Christmas extend earlier and earlier into the year: so what if family members are out shopping or too tired to fully engage in family functions (or run the risk of getting trampled on)?
There are a few exceptions to all of this that deserve highlighting. On the positive side, one is P.C. Richard & Son, the largest chain of privately-owned appliance and electronics stores in the United States, even with stores in only four states: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. This is its eighteenth year of taking out ads slamming retailers who open on Thanksgiving, citing that it is a "show [of] no respect to their employees".
Another positive example can be found in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Those three states have blue laws which ban stores to be open on Thanksgiving Day. In addition to those states and P.C. Richard & Son, five other major retailers that do not open on Thanksgiving are Burlington Coat Factory, Costco, Marshalls, Nordstrom, and TJ Maxx. Kudos to them all.
Some get it, others do not. A negative example is a story of a Pizza Hut general manager in Indiana who wanted to close his restaurant for Thanksgiving. (Seriously, who thinks of Pizza Hut for Thanksgiving? Anybody?) His superiors told him to keep his restaurant open or leave his position. The general manager said he was let go; a Pizza Hut representative said he quit on his own accord. Either way, it is another example of the devaluing of the family.
The sad truth is that there will be a day when Thanksgiving is just another work week Thursday...
...and people will be standing in line for Labor Day Christmas sales.
Terry
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