Bill Maher, properly concerned with Saving Christmas, has proposed relieving anxiety over the last three months of the year by combining all the holidays into one.

The new holiday will be called [n]"Thankshallowistmas"[/b] and participants will eat turkey while in costume followed by opening presents under a tree. Sounds reasonable to me.

What about Saturnalia, Samhain and Kwanzaa?

Hanukkah? We Jews always get the shaft.

Not one mention of Festivus, either.

Everyone complains about stores opening earlier and earlier for Christmas shopping but apparently the blame belongs to President Roosevelt.

Interesting, Proof. I did not know that. Christmas started in Chicago around Halloween. Quite annoying.

I was happy to learn RI is one of three states that forbid opening early on the holiday. But they still advertise as if you could shop early.

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RI is one of three states that forbid opening early on the holiday.

Is that on Thanksgiving? I thought the worst day for shopping in the USA was 'Black Friday', the day after the holiday.

Retailers keep pushing the opening times into the holiday every year. Several department stores are opening early on Thanksgiving and the workers aren't too happy. Several malls even have clauses in their contracts requiring merchants to open any time the mall is open or face substantial fines during the hours they are closed.

Amazon UK has somehow managed to bring 'Black Friday' to us in the UK. At least, that's the day they expect to do a lot of their business; they and several other UK sites online are pushing 'bargains' on that date and expect it to be their busiest period. Odd really as it's not a holiday here, of course.

Boxing Day (26 December) over here sounds rather similar, at least for bricks-and-mortar stores. More and more shops are opening then - whereas a few years ago almost everything was closed (along with 25 December, it's a Bank Holiday), now many stores are open and expect large crowds of mugs shoppers.

I always feel that a bargain is only a bargain if it's something you were prepared to pay the full price for... otherwise it's unwanted junk.

And the important thing is that it's wanted or needed. Quails' eggs at half price are not a bargain to me, for instance, as I'd never dream of buying them usually. The sort of people who would buy them regularly might feel that would be a bargain, though. However, the sort of people who would buy them regularly probably don't notice anyway.

Black Friday isn't a holiday. It is the day that businesses expect to get enough business to "go into the black" as to revenue. The term is just their way of advertising and increasing sales. While not technically a holiday, some people get the day off anyway so stores bigger crowds.

Earlier in this thread I facetiously mentioned "Festivus" as a celebration. Guess what?

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I was happy to learn RI is one of three states that forbid opening early on the holiday.

I bet the Republicans like that!

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I always feel that a bargain is only a bargain if it's something you were prepared to pay the full price for... otherwise it's unwanted junk.

Black Friday bargains are usually for Christmas gifts for others, so technically you wouldn't know if it was junk or not to the other person.

Some Malls have threatened to fine stores for not opening on Thanksgiving (Black Thursday). Kevin Anderson, president and chief executive of The Mac Stores, opened on Thanksgiving last year under the threat of fines, but refused this year. The Mall backed down (Retailer forces Capital Mall to change its tune about Thanksgiving).

Black Friday (from Wikipedia):

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The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation was made: that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss ("in the red") from January through November, and "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or "in the black"

Black Friday is also Buy Nothing Day.

Right now, my wife is at the mall (8AM) but she isn't shopping. For some reason, her shelter group decided a bake sale to benefit the animal shelter was a good idea.

I would not shop on Thanksgiving and think stores should have more respect for their employees.

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think stores should have more respect for their employees.

Do all managers show up for work on that day or do they just make sure enough peons work, then leave/

Not sure, Proof, but my guess is that the managers do show up.