Whatever Hapened To Thanksgiving?

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.

Obviously, the consumers are staying home this year, what with money being so tight and all. So, it's no surprise to me to see that retailers have decided to skip Thanksgiving altogether, and jump right from Halloween (a spending type of holiday) to Christmas (a spending for sure holiday).

Thanksgiving is a little under two weeks away, and I have seen NADA on television in advertising that even mentions the holiday. The only vague reference is to spending, and the mentioning of "black Friday," which is typically the name given to the day after Thanksgiving for shopping, as now being touted a regular shopping sales day from now until Christmas!

No turkey specials advertised; no pumpkin pie ads, not even traditional children's programming or Thanksgiving specials coming up (that I can tell thus far).

I realize that retailers make up more than 25% of their annual revenue (some as much as 50%) on Christmas sales, but putting up Christmas merchandise around Halloween, in October, is sheer madness, and consumerism at its worst. And, trust me, the sales are not really sales ... at least I haven't noticed anything that looks like any greater deal these next few weeks than I have noticed on sale all year. I bought my 32 inch flat screen HD TV at Best Buy for only $299 in July. It's still the same price. Same with computers ... no reduction in the prices that were advertised in July. I know this because I am constantly checking the prices of televisions, computers, telephones, video equipment and the like. Sort of a habit, I guess, that hearkens back to when I used to build these things as a hobby.

For me, sales or no sales, I have already finished my Christmas shopping, and I will be spending my next two weeks planning for Thanksgiving, not Christmas. Gobble, gobble!