somethings missing...

[kenisama]

I've been a bit distracted lately, coming to the end of my course I'm taking, but this has been bugging me for a while now. I mean, did I miss Thanksgiving or something?

[LantisEscudo]

If you're an American, not yet. Next Thursday.

If you're a Canadian, yes. Last month.

[Kionon]

He's not, but if you're Japanese, it's today.

[Willen]

My avatar's still a turkey, and I'm in the US, so Thanksgiving Day hasn't passed yet.

But with all the Xmas decorations going up at all the stores and malls, you'd think you did.

[kenisama]

My avatar's still a turkey, and I'm in the US, so Thanksgiving Day hasn't passed yet.

But with all the Xmas decorations going up at all the stores and malls, you'd think you did.

That's exactly what I'm talking about it! It's actually a bit perplexing and having me feel rushed, I mean I have to leave for Japan after Christmas. One of my friends threw in his opinion on the whole matter, saying that it's most likely a way to stimulate the economy by making people think Christmas is already upon us, so they spend more money

[Garylisk]

You can't make money off Thanksgiving unless you're the grocery store, really.

Most retailers hit Christmas season right after Halloween. It's been like that for a long-ass time.

That being said, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's a celebration of my favorite deadly sin: Gluttony! And it definitely encourages my 2nd favorite: Sloth! And let's not forget many Thanksgiving parties have copious drinking, which sometimes leads to my 3rd favorite: Lust!

Oh Thanksgiving, how I do love you!

[godix]

I've had a long standing vow that if I see Christmas decorations in stores before my birthday (Sept 6) then I would go insane and start killing people right there in middle of the store, especially anyone actually trying to purchase xmas crap. About eight years ago my wife had a job at some artist craft type store and around mid-August she made me promise to not walk into the store when I picked her up because of this vow.

Point being, it's not at all surprising there's christmas crap in the stores. What's surprising is that it's just now showing up.

[Ileia]

Most retailers hit Christmas season right after Halloween. It's been like that for a long-ass time.

Indeed, this isn't something new. I remember going Christmas shopping with my grandma at the beginning of November like...twenty years ago and the stores were decked out in holiday cheer.

[CodeZTM]

Thanksgiving isn't commercially beneficial to businesses other than grocery outlets and wal-mart, so they go straight to the next best/closest thing.

[Kionon]

Abraham Lincoln's successors as president followed his example of annually declaring the final Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving. But in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke with this tradition. November had five Thursdays that year, and Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving rather than the fifth one. In 1940 and 1941, years in which November had four Thursdays, he declared the third one as Thanksgiving. Although many popular histories state otherwise, he made clear that his plan was to establish it on the next-to-last Thursday in the month instead of the last one. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought an earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas.... Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would help bring the country out of the Depression. At the time, advertising goods for Christmas before Thanksgiving was considered inappropriate. Fred Lazarus, Jr., founder of the Federated Department Stores (later Macy's), is credited with convincing Roosevelt to push Thanksgiving back a week to expand the shopping season.