Happy Thanksgiving 2014

The time has come to observe one of the most cherished holidays in American culture: Thanksgiving! Of course, we see much more promotion for Halloween and afterward, a massive amount of promotion for Christmas, but Thanksgiving is often passed over. Perhaps, food holidays do not usually pick up the recognition, for the chain department stores (Target, Kohl's, Walmart, etc.) are paying much more attention to Black Friday, which has inappropriately started to interfere with Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, we should pay attention to a holiday that has started to represent something much different from its original intent, but either way comes forth with the right reasoning.

Thanksgiving was originally a feast between the pilgrims and tribes regarding their agreement to leave as a united people and share the land. Unfortunately, the relationship between the colonists that came to America and the tribes that lived here thousand of years beforehand did not live up to their first Thanksgiving. What did come out of this, however, was that Thanksgiving became a holiday where a family takes part in a feast of what is usually turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie for dessert, and anything else one may think of. The pieces of the meal can be switched out for what ever one may want to fill in. For instance, one can eat ham instead of turkey, corn over mashed potatoes, cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie, and the list goes on. I am more of a lasagna person myself!

I am thankful for having a great family and the ability to be surrounded by a great group of friends and acquaintances. One should be able to enjoy this opportunity just as much as the other person, which makes me even more thankful for not having to work on Thanksgiving. The place I work at closes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter every year, for they feel that employees should be able to spend this time with family and friends. Unfortunately, big name department stores have begun to find reason to open up at some point on Thanksgiving Day, because they are concerned with Black Friday being their biggest day of the year. The most outrageous decision comes from Kmart, which will open at 6 AM on Thanksgiving Day and remain open for FORTY-TWO STRAIGHT HOURS! Why? To me, it comes off as desperation, for Kmart has not been relevant since the days they had Rosie O'Donnell and Martha Stewart as either endorsements or important pieces to their business. I cannot think of a Kmart that is in good condition at the moment we speak. To me, if you want to open at 5 AM on Black Friday, that is no issue. It's not the most pleasant idea, but no issue. To make people work on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter at such a high multitude is a sin. Of course, there may be people (mainly Christmas and Easter) that do not celebrate such holidays, but those that do should be able to take off, just as someone who is Jewish should have the right to have their holidays (Hanukkah and Passover) without it counting against them. I will not post hours to the places opened on Thanksgiving, because I discourage people from shopping on Thanksgiving. I will just say that you can Google it.

All of that aside, I want to wish all of my readers a very happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful to have such a good group of readers as well as plenty of goals I have been able to reach and start building toward. Tomorrow will be a day filled with eating with loved ones, leisurely reading, football, and just putting this day aside to be thankful for all of the blessings that have been showered upon me. Have a wonderful day!

Oh, as for what I will be reading, I may look into Thomas JeffersonL The Art of Power by Jon Meacham. I started reading it for a paper I did in my British Colonies & American Revolution class and now I want to read it for my own desire and desire to consume some more historical knowledge on one of America's finest men who I can thankfully deem one of America's architects.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!