Rant #2,473: Shoppin' From A To Z

Happy Thanksgiving Monday!

And I can also say happy Thanksgiving Tuesday and happy Thanksgiving Wednesday if I want to.

This is Thanksgiving week, and I can gobble if I want to--all week.

We have Thanksgiving Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then the BIG DAY comes on Thursday, the actual holiday, the time we get together with family to feast, all around that nice turkey in the middle of the table.

But then, we have Thanksgiving Friday--"Black Friday," as it has come to be known as, based on retailers' need to get "into the black" on that day based on heightened sales--and that is followed by the Thanksgiving weekend, or Thanksgiving Saturday and Thanksgiving Sunday.

When I was working, the importance of this holiday was part of an annual article or group of articles that I would write about how the military exchanges--their department stores--performed during the Thanksgiving shopping days, and I would also write another article on how the military commissaries--the supermarkets--would do on the days prior to Thanksgiving.

Yes, this week is supremely important to retailers' bottom lines, but let's face it, they have been promoting their wares and the prices that they will be charging for these items since at least as far back as Halloween.

"Black Friday" has become name that we use for this entire shopping cycle, and retailers have adapted it for their own uses, sometimes even using it to describe what they call incredible deals even during the summer.

It is completely amazing to me that perhaps the best holiday on the calendar, one that has absolutely nothing to do with gifts, has pretty much become the do all and end all of gifts, and represents the beginning of the holiday shopping season, even though that season actually began a month earlier.

Thanksgiving is supposed to revolve around family, and for the most part, that continues, at least for a few hours on the actual day of the holiday.

But many retailers, trying to get a leg up on their competitors and give themselves a good head start for Black Friday, actually open later in the day on Thanksgiving, giving shoppers the opportunity to eat and conduct themselves the right way with their families on the holiday, and then go absolutely crazy later on.

And don't necessarily blame the retailers for co-opting the holiday; if consumers didn't want to shop on Thanksgiving day, nobody would be open, so shoppers are just as culpable as the retailers are for putting a dent in the holiday.

Me, this year I did buy gifts for my family, but the gifts were less than they have been in the past simply because of my situation, which is the same as it was nearly seven weeks ago when I lost my job.

So yes, I purchased gifts, but I did it way before the holiday rush began; no, probably everyone I bought gifts for would understand if I came empty handed, but to me, it made me feel really good to get at least something for my loved ones. And I did not spend a lot of money in doing so, so I both economized and took care of my family, all at the same time.

The best present I could get is a new job, but alas, it is pretty obvious that that is not going to be happening anytime soon, so I will simply go with the flow, do what I have to do, and hope for the best in the coming months.

So while lots and lots of people run amuck during the next few days, I won't be doing that, knowing that at least I celebrated the strength I get from my family by purchasing some small gifts to honor those I love.

It gives me a lot of solace.

And whether I am working or not working, I wonder if those spending thousands of dollars on gifts this holiday season get the same type of solace that I get from purchasing just a few gifts and budgeting what I spend, or do they just do it to satisfy a need, a craving to buy, buy, buy and buy some more.

I wonder ... .