A friend posted on Facebook that her company (a national retail chain) will be open on Thanksgiving evening. My first thought was "ugh." It was a deep inner sigh of upsetness.
For me, having a giant retail store open on Thanskgiving means that, if I just can't manage to be around my family for a few hours, I can go get a good deal on that perfume I've been thinking about.
But for my friend, working on Thanksgiving means being forced to miss the family dinner. It means not seeing her three year old cousin fall asleep in the bowl of green beans. She'll always remember this as the first (and hopefully only) year she couldn't spend with the people she loves because America had to go shopping.
Thanksgiving is NOT about 60% off. It's not about towels. It's not about the XBox One vs the PlayStation 4. It isn't about door busting or waiting in line or buying perfume.
Thanksgiving is about people, not stuff.
According to the great philosopher Charlie Brown, "We should just be thankful for being together. I think that's what they mean by 'Thanksgiving.'" I couldn't agree more.
Thanksgiving is about family. It's about friends. It's about the friends who have become family. It's about laughing because some of us like egg nog and others can't stand the stuff. It's about turkey, tofurkey, nachos, or whatever you choose to come together around.
Thanksgiving is for getting away from our phones and back to talking to the real people sitting just across the table. It's for new families to create traditions, and for old families to relive the ones they've perfected over time. It's for Aunt Martha and Uncle Bob to have too much mulled wine and tell the story (again) about how your parents met. It's for kids to see that their mom and dad really do have time for them. It's for college students to take a deep breath. It's for overworked small business owners to finally get a night off. It's time for you and I to honestly and sincerely appreciate each other.
So I'd like to ask you to do something important. On Thanksgiving, let's not go to the big box stores. Let's make a pact that, no matter how unbeatable the deal, our friends and family are more important. Let's spend time with people we love and make memories that will last a lifetime. Let's tag the big box stores in our selfies and tell them why we're NOT going shopping on this one day.
We get one day to make it about each other. Please, stand with me on this.