I was struck by the fact that it was in my lifetime that this began changing. Pharmacies started being open Sundays (outside Utah of course), grocery stores and restaurants. Then, all these businesses started being open on major holidays.
It used to be that one would drive around on Thanksgiving or Christmas here in the U.S. and everything would be very quiet. All the stores would be dark, with notes about the holiday closing posted on the front door.
This is immortalized by the family dinner in "A Christmas Story", where the only open restaurant is the local Chinese restaurant.
I'm not someone who believes in the "keeping the Sabbath day holy" order of things. And I find myself strangely encouraged and discouraged by restaurants being open on holidays.
Encouraged as now people without family or plans have somewhere to go - to be with other people.
To celebrate in their own way, without going through the hassle of making a turkey (or tofurkey) and the trimmings.
If you have not ever prepared the full course of Thanksgiving glory - it is quite a task. It is time-consuming. It requires intensive planning and coordination of when the oven will be used and for how long. One even needs to use math to calculate just how many hours the turkey may need to bake.
So a person or family who chooses to go out on Thanksgiving - or purchase a pre-made Thanksgiving meal...I understand. I get it.
But, those restaurants have owners and employees. And my husband's cousin works for one of those restaurants, and yes, he is going to be working (to be able to take off Christmas).
And so it goes.
So all holidays become as faceless and uneventful as {Insert faceless holiday here, don't want to step on toes}, where many companies (even those that follow bankers' holidays) don't take off.
I realize it's a slippery slope argument, so it's not a terribly logical one.
Things change, priorities change, society definitely changes and adapts.
PS. my kids made the turkeys at pre-school. Enjoy!
2 comments:
those are some good looking turkeys!
thanks for your thoughtful take on why it's good that restaurants stay open on thanksgiving. i am blessed with a family that's close enough (emotionally and geographically) to spend time with at the holidays and too easily i forget that there are many people who, for whatever reason, don't spend thanksgiving with loved ones.
happy thanksgiving!
Cute turkeys! I love that businesses are open on Sundays and late nights when I need them. Holidays make me a little sad for the employees, but I have used them during those times so I contribute to that mindset that everything should run all the time.
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