Adventures in Attachment Parenting: Black Thursday? by Allison Silver

This past week a friend of mine who works for a major retail chain told me that several big retailers are opening up their doors on Thursday evening. He said they are calling it “Black Thursday.” What?! The last time I checked, the entire day was called Thanksgiving!  Are you kidding me? Black Thursday?!

It really bothers me that our society has become so commercialized that we can’t even spend an entire day giving thanks. Nope. We can only give thanks for eight to twelve hours and then we have to go shopping! Chip chop chip!

This past Monday the local evening news interviewed people who were already camped out in front of Best Buy waiting for Friday! Are you joking? It’s Monday night! What about Thanksgiving? Seriously, I feel like I am in a Charlie Brown special! What has this world come to? Isn’t anyone thankful anymore? Is Thanksgiving just another commercial holiday?  Good grief!

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love all of the classic Thanksgiving foods! I could certainly make them anytime throughout the year, and I have been known to do so from time to time, but there is something so special about having them all together on Thanksgiving.

Growing up, Thanksgiving always meant being with family, particularly my maternal grandparents. They are no longer with us so the memories that I have of them just seem extra special around this time of year. The day always started out with watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. My family is originally from New York so watching the parade was a given. This is still a tradition that I have continued as I love to watch the parade. The Rockettes are my absolute favorite. As far as I am concerned, the holidays can officially begin only after watching the Rockettes perform a kickline at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!

My grandmother always made Thanksgiving dinner. This was the one day of the year that she actually cooked! And the woman could make a mean turkey with homemade stuffing. I would always help make the stuffing the night before. We would watch TV and tear up the bread together.

I loved the way the house would smell all day while the turkey was cooking. It is still one of my favorite smells. My grandmother would spend most of the day in the kitchen cooking the turkey in her high heels and pearls with her kitchen apron on. I love that! Nobody cooks in high heels and pearls anymore.

My grandfather typically helped prepare the side dishes but only at the request of my grandmother.  He would always make extra mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving with real butter because he knew how much I loved them!  One year we both got scolded when we forgot to put enough water in the gravy. It was thick enough that a spoon could stand straight up in it!

And who could forget the desserts? It was my favorite part of the whole dinner. My grandmother had a terrible sweet tooth so there were always multiple desserts to choose from. My favorite has always been pumpkin pie, but I also loved the petite fours that my grandma always put on a special plate.

These are the types of memories that I want my daughter to have of Thanksgiving. These memories are priceless. I want her to enjoy Thanksgiving and to be excited about it. I want her to have special memories of her own. You can’t make these memories if you are camping outside of Best Buy!

As a society, we need to tell the retailers to put the brakes on commercialism and reclaim Thanksgiving as the one day that we give thanks for all that we have. Isn’t that what we want our children to learn?

I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday and are able to make special memories that your children will remember for years to come. As for me, I am going to attempt to host a Thanksgiving dinner at my house. Since I have my hands full with the baby, I will admit that I am not making it from scratch.  I actually ordered a premade dinner from MiMi’s, but perhaps as I heat it up I will wear my apron with high heels and pearls!

Tags: Allison Silver, attachment parenting, black Friday, childhood traditions, commercialism, memories, Thanksgiving