The Irony of Holidays

I live in London, a city that I feel has an interesting balance. Parks and outdoor centers for country lovers, theaters and ballets and operas for entertainment junkies, and loads of shopping places and markets for retail therapists. All year long you can choose your poison.

As an American, I'm steeped in the deep American tradition of Thanksgiving and Black Friday--signposting the official start of the Christmas Season. This year, among various exposes of what Thanksgiving is and what it means to us, I found myself missing Black Friday more than the days off, the dinner, or the comfort of being around people who understand.

Thanksgiving dinner can be replicated. You can easily order a turkey and make up a huge meal with people over at any time during the year. We made pie and cheesecake, bought cases of beer, made all the sides, and set everything up. After a fantastic dinner we passed out in front of the TV in a food coma, and I awoke this morning, slightly groggy, and ready for a day of full-contact shopping to get the body moving again after my mini-hibernation. But when I woke up there was nothing to wake up to... no specials, no sales, no expectation of traffic and insanely busy stores and fighting off old ladies for the last case of lotion at Bath and Body Works.

A friend of mine, who grew up in East London, recently told me that Americans have a balance to us. We have a ying and a yang, so to speak. I'm beginning to see how true this is. We have an entire day set aside to give thanks, spend time with family and friends, and stuff ourselves full. To think of the abundance that we celebrate, to do things for others, and rest. Our entire society celebrates Thanksgiving regardless of religion, race, or ethnicity. And the day after our comforting, restful, family based activity, we RAGE through stores, focused only on our own agenda, contending with the world to shop SHOP SHOP! No longer thinking of the greater good, but rather pushing others out of the way, stealing parking spaces, road raging on the highways, and using our survival instincts to save ourselves the most money possible.

While the Americans who are out of the country can reinact Thanksgiving Dinner, we need an entire community to cooperate for Black Friday Shopping. We need the stores to open early and offer sales and promote the cut-throat, you're-not-special-if-you-don't-have it, that-is-so-last-season attitude that makes Black Friday Shopping a competitive sport.

In us there is a balance of community and selfish ambition. Ironically, I really missed Black Friday Shopping... and rather, I sat in my flat, eating leftovers from yesterday, wishing I was shopping at the Deptford Mall, fighting for my life on the road and in the stores.

God Bless America...