Thanksgiving is a national holiday to spend time with family. On Thanksgiving families get together for the holiday to eat a big meal and to spend time with their relatives.

Since this is a family holiday, stores should not open Thanksgiving night. Stores that open need employees, and a lot of them because it’s such a busy shopping season. It’s not possible for most employees, even those with families, to ask off  since it’s all hands on deck. Even if they celebrate earlier in the day, their day is still dictated by their work schedules.

This holiday is a chance to count your blessings and appreciate being with your family.  Sure families can stay together by shopping together, but going to the mall with 2,000 other people trying to buy the same pair of shoes is not relaxing or a good way to spend time with members of your family.

On Thanksgiving it is traditional to have a large dinner with your friends and family and just be thankful for what you have. Stores such as Best Buy and hhgregg started advertising they’d be open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day weeks in advance.  Six o’clock? That’s dinner time for most families. And families shouldn’t feel like they need to plan the day around when stores open just to save money on holiday shopping.

Back in 1621, the first Thanksgiving took place between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. The feast they shared celebrated everything good in their lives. The thanks that was shared should continue in today’s celebrations. It should not change because one is worried about not getting the cheapest deal on a new television. Thanksgiving is about family and about being thankful for what one has, not what one is about to buy.

Many national stores open for Black Friday on Thanksgiving night after advertising their products for weeks in advance.

Locally, both Wal-mart and Belk opened at 6 p.m. The stores advertised their products would be 30 to 70 percent off. These low prices on both normal and holiday products draw in customers. Because of these amazing deals, people go into frenzies. It is not unusual to hear about fights breaking out in lines or people grabbing items out of other people’s hands on the news following these sales. What about this says “I am thankful for what I have?”

The discounts offered for Black Friday shopping aren’t worth time away from family. Stores should be closed on Thanksgiving and not open. Thanksgiving is a time to just be thankful for all that you have, not what you bought.