Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has become a major event in the United States over the last few years as the official start to the holiday buying season.  This year, 2011, some retailers have moved the clock up to start Thanksgiving night.  In my opinion, this has to stop.

Thanksgiving commemorates the working together and peace of the pilgrims and native Americans at the start of the colonization of America, before greed and prejudice eroded the trust in this country.  We now use it as a day for the family to come together and give thanks for the blessings we have.  And then, we race to the stores, trample over people, and even pepper spray them to get a good price on an X-Box?  Ridiculous!

I understand the idea of creating buzz for the retail industry, and jump starting sales, but the timing couldn’t be more inappropriate, and the method is dangerous.  Let families enjoy the holiday together and not think of materialistic things.

I used to operate on Thanksgiving morning, and make sure the staff left by noon, thinking nothing happens before then on the holiday anyway, and that many people found it a convenient time to take off from work.  Then I stopped operating that day, but was open Friday and Saturday as normal.  I stopped that as well a few years ago so that my employees could have more family time.

I guess the purpose of this blog is to remember that no matter how cheap a deal is on an ipad or plasma tv, it is meaningless compared to value of family time.  If you are lucky enough to have the Friday off, enjoy the precious gifts that money can not buy.