Ever wonder why each year the holiday season seems to start earlier and earlier? Let me tell you the reasoning behind it all: RETAIL.

Working a part time job at a high end retail store has already allowed me a month of holiday cheer (and gloom) for the past month, and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. On October 30^th, the trees went up, Santa came to town, and the holiday music began. Children and families run through the mall until all hours of the night, lining up for their pictures with Santa. Mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, husbands, fathers and children pile into my store to ask the most ridiculous of questions and buy things they know their significant other will most likely not even like. When a man came to the register this morning, he greeted me by immediately asking for a gift receipt by saying: “I know my wife won’t like it, but at least it’s something.” After this man made this comment I stopped for a second and thought, “Why are you spending three hundred dollars on a purse you KNOW your wife won’t like?” But as the cheery sales associate with a smile plastered on my face I had to keep my comment to myself and hand the gentleman his wife’s holiday present.

Is this really what the holiday season has come down to? The season begins two months in advance and allows people to feel the pressure of running out of time before Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday are even close to being here. This man was feeling so rushed to get a gift for his wife that he picked something out he knew wasn’t her style, just to be sure he had something for her. Does the business care? Absolutely not! Because that was a three hundred dollar sale right in the company’s pocket.

We are living in a world today where making the biggest sales is the main reason for holiday spirit. While the holiday season is a time to spend with loved ones, my store will be open for business. On Thanksgiving, a day for family and giving thanks for those we love, my store will be open from six o’clock until one in the morning, and then reopening at six in the morning until eleven at night, just for the Black Friday shoppers. Yesterday a woman came in during my shift and asked me if we were open on Thanksgiving. I immediately thought, “Of course, she just wants to know when our sales are.” But I was completely wrong. When I responded with “Yes, we will be open from six o’clock until one in the morning on Thanksgiving,” she replied by telling me how sad that was and our company should be ashamed of themselves. While she was very angered by us being open on Thanksgiving, it allowed me the chance to feel some sort of relief by knowing I wasn’t the only person who thought retail was taking away from the true meaning of the holidays.

While yes, it is fabulous getting the best sales and knocking out so many gifts at once, the true meaning behind the holidays, spending time with family and loved ones, is being overlooked. While I enjoy a good sale as much as anyone else, I also enjoy spending time with those I love. The fact that so many stores will be open for business on Thanksgiving really saddens me as it takes away the whole meaning of the holiday. While making the sale is something my company stresses way more during this time of year, I can’t stress enough how much I am looking forward to it being over.