For many years, Americans have celebrated thanksgiving with their friends, families and loved ones. But now, many people don't and won't have a thanksgiving due to a thing called black friday. This blog is about my thoughts on this topic, and something that many people should think about before running out on black friday to shop.

Before I get started, i will post a few links about Thanksgiving and Black Friday. 

Thanksgiving. Retrieved on: 11/24/2014. from: http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving

Black Friday History. Retrieved on: 11/24/2014. from: https://blackfriday.com/pages/black-friday-history

Now that we have some links to the information of this history of the two, lets get started. 

Thanksgiving is always the Fourth Thursday in November, and it has been that way for a very long time. Although our "Updated" version of thanksgiving wouldn't be recognized by the original attendees of the first thanksgiving, which occurred in 1621, it is still a time where friends, family, neighbors, and loved ones gather around the table together and feast together. It is a time where memories are made, some good and bad turkey is eaten, and laughs are shared. It is a time to give thanks and to be thankful for everything we have (including the food on the table, and the time it took to prepare it). 

Black friday was established in the 1960's and it is always the day after Thanksgiving. It is called black friday because when companies or stores kept records, they used red ink to indicate a loss of profits and black ink to indicate a gain or growth. It was a day where the stores went out of the reds and into black. Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade that started in 1924, was the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season. But when Black Friday was established, it became a day of no sleep after thanksgiving and "we better wait in line at 9pm to save $50.00." The reason why black friday is such a success is because consumers want to spend less money on items or gifts, and stores are offering incentives such as; lower prices, reduced prices, door busters, and more. 

Thanksgiving is suppose to be a time where you spend it with the people who matter the most to you, but because of increasing demand, stores, shops and more are making employees work on thanksgiving day/night, which prevents them from celebrating with family. Mass retailers such as Target, CVS, Walmart, Best Buy and more, are continuing to force employees to work on thanksgiving night sometimes starting at 10pm or midnight and going long into friday. Many people i know are not able to celebrate thanksgiving because they are being forced to work that day/night (which should not be mandatory). Companies should close down on that day and give people time to celebrate. The sad thing is, if you are scheduled, and if you refuse to work, you can be fired. So it isn't like people really have a say, which is unfair. I believe that companies and mass retailers should give their employees thanksgiving off. Let it go back to how it was when it was not about making money, and it was still about family. 

I feel that we should hold off on supporting black friday and just wait until cyber monday when the deals are better, and you don't have to wait at midnight in the freezing cold for a chance to save some money. At least online, you can see how many of a specific item are left in stock and how much they are. Plus with cyber monday, there are a lot of companies offering free shipping as well. 

I just don't want to support this consumerist holiday anymore. I would rather be able to spend time with family and friends. I feel bad for those who are working on thanksgiving and on black friday. 

What are your thoughts? Do you have anything to add to this?  Please let me know and i will update this accordingly. Thank you as always for reading.