This Facebook post by Robert Reich https://www.facebook.com/RBReich about all the stores that will be open on Thanksgiving made me reflect on how I have spent Thanksgiving and the day after over the years.
Before I was a nurse, I briefly had a job as a bell-ringer for the Salvation Army. People didn’t call the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” then but it was a huge shopping day and the kickoff for the holiday season. Now the holiday season starts before Halloween which is one sign that our economy is not doing great. It felt funny to me, as a Jew, to be ringing the bell for this Christian organization but people didn’t realize that I was being paid and thanked me for my service.
Once I became a nurse I often worked on Thanksgiving. If I was working a 7-3 shift when I got home we would go out to eat. One year my husband and one of my sons cooked dinner which was a real treat. When I worked 7-7 my family met me at the hospital and ate in the cafeteria with me.
This year my Thanksgiving and Hanukkah will be spent with family and not shopping. Thanksgiving is a nice holiday because it is non-denominational and a time to relax. In our 24/7 society we need days of rest and no commercial activity.