Black Oneday

I heard my wife talking on the phone, "What are you going to dress up like for Black Oneday?".

Black Oneday, what a stupid name.  What a stupid day.  On November one, all the stores have doorbuster sales.  The shoppers dress up in Halloween costumes the night of October thrity-one and wait in line.  It seemed like there was a time when people did things for Halloween besides shop, but I can't really remember that far back.  But what do you expect when Thanksgiving is the biggest retail holiday in the country?

If it were just for Black Oneday, it probably wouldn't be so bad, but it seems like we're overdoing Thanksgiving in general. They even have radio stations that start playing Thanksgiving music in September. There are only two Thanksgiving songs--"Simple Gifts" and "We Gather Together". There is even a secular Thanksgiving music station that only plays "Simple Gifts".  It's named "Simple Gifts". Simple Gifts, a simple station for simple minded people.

How early is too early to start Thanksgiving Season? The big retail stores have been trying to make this last as long as possible. The term for it is Thanksgiving Creep. It's a funny term, I tend to think of a Thanksgiving Creep as the weird uncle who shows up for Thanksgiving dinner and no one is quite sure if he really is a relative or who invited him.

I try not to take sides in this "War on Thanksgiving", but I do think it's a little ridiculous when the temperature outside is in the 100s, and people are starting to put their Thanksgiving decorations up. They say Americans consume 1 million tons of fake leaves every year.  I remember when people used to pay people to take away the leaves.

I have to go--my wife and I are going to see a Thanksgiving movie with some friends.  They're all the same--a combined message that the spirit of Thanksgiving is about being with family and spending money on Thanksgiving merchandise.  They're very subtle with the second point, but it's still there. The Hollywood executives know there's a symbiotic relationship between the success of retail market during Thanksgiving and their ability to make profit off of throw-away Thanksgiving movies.

I better stop complaining, though. People might get the impression I don't like Thanksgiving. I do like Thanksgiving--it's my favorite holiday. At least it used to be...