Thanksgiving Comes First

Two weeks before Halloween, I was in a Walmart to pick up some long-sleeved shirts and pants for The Overlord. Even though the temperature was still warm, I wanted to get this warmer clothing for two reasons: the prices would still be cheap because of the warm weather, and I would be prepared for the cold November weather on the way.

So I dipped into the savings account, took out about $80, and headed down. (Or rather, I should say up, because the Walmart I was headed to was north of where I lived, across the bridge into Aspinwall as I headed to the Waterworks Mall, if you are at all familiar with the Pittsburgh area.) I picked up about 6-7 pieces of clothing for The Overlord, diapers, a fleece blanket, a new bath mat, a USB flash drive, new sneakers and winter boots for the Overlord. Total came to about $80, so it was a good shopping day.

The moment you walk through the doors of Walmart, you have walls of aisles filled with Halloween candy. Imagine, about 10 feet on both sides is just sugary sweets, tempting, tempting, for you to buy at the inflated prices now even though everyone knows that the true sales come after Halloween.

If you looked over toward the right, you would see the green tops of trees standing tall. In all their artificial glory stood Christmas trees in every shape, size and even color. The display was small and out of the way. But it did remind you of the soon arrival of an encroaching holiday season.

Walmart is usually very quiet. They don't go out of their way to pipe elevator music (or rocking 70's-80's music like the local grocery store as people sing in the aisles.) So it does catch your attention when instead of hearing silence, you hear music being played in the background as you shop.

What type of music, you ask?

Christmas carols.

That's right. It wasn't even Halloween yet, and Christmas music was playing at Walmart. When I heard it, I automatically knew what was coming next. A movement. A movement started by my friend Suldog concerning ending the atrocious over-advertising of Christmas and celebrating each holiday during their designated month.

The movement is called "Thanksgiving Comes First." This movement was started because the holiday of Thanksgiving is so often forgotten by commercial retailers in the effort to rake in the holiday sales for Christmas. My friend made a wonderful post here that fully goes into the movement. So visit him here for more information.