It's the Holiday season. So Whoop-dee-doo!

It's Touchy Topics Thursday! (I just made that up. Seriously.)

All the blogs. All the memes. All the news stories.

“If you shop on Thanksgiving you are part of the problem.”

And yeah, okay on the surface that makes sense. Thanksgiving is a day set aside for the entire country to be thankful and spend time with family. Maybe a big meal. Maybe not. Either way it is a bonus day of rest the government has so thoughtfully given to everyone no matter their religion, race or creed. Then all these horrible corporations are having huge discounted sales and forcing their employees to work and give up their holiday. And if you dare to shop you are just encouraging the corporations to do that to their employees over and over again.

I get it.

But let’s look at the flip side for just a second. Thanksgiving is just a Thursday. I know it’s a holiday and all that, but it isn’t a Holy Day. There is no required Mass. And even if there was, the church doesn’t state how we spend the rest of the day. Thanksgiving is no different than Memorial Day, Fourth of July or Labor Day. But nobody makes a fuss about people working and the corporate sales on those days.

I’m not entirely sure why Thanksgiving is so sacred in people’s minds. It has never been my favorite holiday. Sure the sentiment is nice, being thankful. But let’s be real. Aren’t we supposed to be thankful 365 days a year? I am. And I have never liked turkey. PLUS it’s a Thursday. And if your company is mean, (like every company Husband has ever worked for.) you have to go back to work on Friday. Which severely limits the traveling plans for us and I’m sure many others in our same shoes. 

Oh yeah, then there’s the fact that in theory when you see your family for Thanksgiving you have a high chance to turn around and see them all again in four-ish weeks for Christmas. Canada has it right. Thanksgiving is in mid-October. On a Monday. Boom! 3 day weekend to be thankful. Far enough removed from Christmas that you can replenish your small talk subjects and burn off the calories in order to do it all again.

But whatever. This post isn’t about the merits of Thanksgiving as it is clearly SO IMPORTANT. And I don't even disagree with that even if I don't think it's all that and some gravy.

I will move on to Black Friday invading Thanksgiving Thursday. If you don’t want to shop? Don’t. Personally, there are very few things at a deep enough discount for me to determine standing outside in a line is worth it. I've done it before. I don’t really have plans to this year. But for society as a whole it actually makes sense for the shopping to happen on Thursday. Because a lot of people don’t have to work. So they have time.

But Madeline, think about those poor employees and single mothers who are forced to work at Target and Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving to put food on the table. I've been there. When I worked for the giant cell phone company customer service I worked on holidays. It wasn't the most fun time I've ever spent. But the company tried. There were prizes and games and ways to be festive just for being there. And the money was fantastic. 8 hours of holiday work was the pay of 20 hours. That was my entire Christmas budget right there. In one day. Plus the company was very upfront about it when I was hired.

I don’t imagine anyone who works at Wal-Mart or Best Buy is overly shocked when come “the holiday season” they work on holidays. (Especially seasonal employees.) And the money they earn just might be worth the people clamoring to get cheap stuff. I know with the economy many people are stuck between a rock and a hard place when taking these jobs initially, so some may not be happy about working on Thanksgiving but feel “forced” to. To these individuals I say, thank you for sacrificing for your family to provide for them.

As it happens many places have taken the rush (literally and figuratively) out of Black Friday shopping. They hand out coupons in line so there’s no question who gets what hours before the doors open. This makes it safer for the employees as well which I am sure is appreciated. 

Okay Madeline, they are compensated for working on these holidays, but what about the precious time with their family? Everyone deserves a day with their family! I agree. I do. But who says they’re not spending time together? 

If they don’t have to be to work until 4:00 PM perhaps they had their Thanksgiving meal earlier. In Husband’s family Thanksgiving is OVER by then because the farmers have to go do chores. (They work every day, there’s no such thing as a holiday for them.) Or perhaps they aren't seeing their family on Thanksgiving proper, maybe the best day for everyone to get together is on Sunday after church. What if they have no family? And Thanksgiving just makes them sad? Why can't they make a little money while not feeling so alone?

And to address the shoppers who “should be home with their families,” I also know families where they all go shopping together, that’s how they celebrate. And staying up a little late (and when stores open at 8:00 PM that’s not even that late.) might be better for some than waking up early.

All I’m saying is there is a flip side to the “rampant consumerism ruining holidays” argument. If the world is clamoring for Thanksgiving to be sacred they should be arguing the same for the other holidays. Yet somehow the turkey dinner is deemed more important than the barbecues of summer. I don’t know why. 

This year my little family will be hanging out just the three of us. And I am pretty excited for it. And I'm not going shopping, but only because I think there's nothing worth battling crowds for. We will be thankful and grateful together. But we won't begrudge those who do. They're just celebrating differently than us.