Thanksgiving. Is it becoming a lost tradition with retail sales becoming more important?

I was bawdy...I didn't participate in last week's post. I know. I know. It's done. Drop it.

This week on Topic Tuesday we are discussing our thoughts and feelings on stores being open on Thanksgiving. I could probably bitch for days about this, but why? The long and short of it is I don't like it. I don't agree with it. 

Our society is becoming a 24/7 culture. Jobs are requiring individuals to work all hours of the day and night. Family is falling to the wayside. My husband said it best on Friday. "Soon, Thanksgiving will be a lost tradition. There will come a time we won't bother with it."

I fear he is correct. I don't go shopping for the early bird Black Friday sales. I don't go shopping on Black Friday. A $20 savings in a store is not worth the jail time I would serve when I got shoved, pushed, punched, or trampled. My patience is minimal at best. In that type of environment...yeah, I'd catch a charge.

I can't say I didn't go to a store on Thanksgiving this year because that would be a lie. What I can say is it was Wally World, I went early in the day to buy meat for my Seafood Gumbo, and I got to see my Mimi because she was (wait for it) AT WORK!!!! Luckily, she got off work at 4 p.m. so we had dinner at 6. 

I've worked weekends and holidays for going on 19 years now. It's not fun, but it is necessary. It's also not the same as working retail to put money in a corporation's shareholders' pockets. It's understood in emergency services--the job comes first. For 19 years birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and weekends were lost or put on hold. 

I will do the same thing I've done for all these years this Christmas. I'll wake my children at 5 a.m. and have Santa. Then I'll get dressed and head to work. One day, I'll be able to retire...

As always, check out the Usual Suspects and their take on our topic here.