Please Don't Turn Thanksgiving Black

This year Thanksgiving was probably one of our most memorable. We, as a family joined with several others of our extended family including my mother, and the Bengtzen Family in runing/walking The Human Race, to benefit the Utah food bank. It was a blast, my sister Stacie, my brother Ryan, and I all ran the 10k while the rest ran/walked the 5k. It was neat to feel the spirit of fun that was there. DeeAnn and Matt ran from start to finish. It was DeeAnn's first start to finish running the whole way. The first of many to come, I would suspect. Spence and Matt haven't wanted to take their shirts off since the race. Obviously we had to put the kibosh on that one. My brother and I finished in a record time for us at just over 58 minutes. For years, we had talked about wanting to do more than just have the Thanksgiving feast and sit around and watch T.V. So this was a great change and will definitely be repeated.

Following the race we came home and got ready for the Thanksgiving feast. Once we got our food prepared and taken to my mother's home, DeeAnn and Lauree sat down with all the ads and started looking for the deals that they wanted to take advantage of on the morrow. While they were busy with the ads I visited and relaxed. It was one of the most memorable Thanksgivings I can remember. I really enjoyed it.
However, one thing that really bothered me was the creeping up of the Black Friday. Some stores decided that they would not wait until the day after Thanksgiving. They decided that they would open the evening of Thanksgiving. I understand the importance of Black Friday. The day when stores finally break even and begin to make a profit. I wonder if the Occupy Wall Street group realized that for 11 months many of these stores are praying for a final month to stay in business. They pay their employees 11 months without a guarantee of profits.  Anyways, so I get the whole importance of the day after Thanksgiving and getting a leg up on the competition, but I am not ready to give up my day of thanks for the madness that is Black Friday.
I decided that I would go with my wife on Black Friday shopping a couple of years ago. That was the last time for me. I can see the potential fun it could be, but the spirit of the season is not found in the stores and many forget to fill themselves up with the spirit before they leave their homes. It has become more about the things than it is about the feeling of gratitude and love that should be apart of the season.
For this reason I plead that we leave Black Friday for Friday. Let us get our fill of the Spirit of Gratitude before we enter those stores, maybe then the spirit of Christmas will find its way back into the Season. In any case it is our responsibility to spread the spirit of Gratitude and Love, whether anyone else does or not. So, keep smiling and wishing all a Merry Christmas and enjoy the Holiday Season.