Only in America would we trample each other to buy new things a day after being thankful for what we already have. For those of you who are not familiar with Black Friday, Black Friday is an American tradition that takes place every year, the day after Thanksgiving, in order to kick off the holiday season.

Now, wait. Did I just say it is the day after Thanksgiving? Well, it originally started as early as 4 a.m. on Friday mornings, however in the past few years, national brands have taken Black Friday to the next level by opening stores as early as 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

That means most people will not be able to even enjoy their turkey dinner and time spent with their families due to having to show up to work to man the crowds, or due to needing the hottest doorbuster deal that they could probably find online at a later date.

Did you know more people die shopping on Black Friday than from shark attacks each year? In fact, since 2006, seven people have died and 98 people have been injured on this day due to angry crowds, trampling, and even shootings (1).

Did you know that Americans spend more time shopping on Thanksgiving than they do while visiting Disneyland every year? Walmart alone attracts more than 22 million shoppers to its stores just on Thanksgiving Day, while Disneyland California only attracts 16 million visitors per year (1).

Most shoppers are completely ignoring these facts, and do not realize that they can shop the same Black Friday deals without having to risk their life (or sanity) straight from their computers. In fact, Americans spend about $1.3 billion online the day of Thanksgiving, along with the $3 billion on Black Friday (not to even mention the Cyber Monday deals offered) (1).

"I just ordered my new television off of Samsclub.com. I don't think people realize that the same deals are available online, and this way I can still spend valuable time with my family on Thanksgiving," said Tony Corso.

Fortunately, there are some companies who are getting their employees' hints that they refuse to work on turkey day. This year, chains as big as Costco, Nordstrom, GameStop, REI, and Barnes & Noble, are all closing up shop. The CEO of REI was even quoted to say that too many people focus on shopping and that his point for closing REI was to encourage his employees to instead spend quality time with their families (1).

"It is ridiculous how I have to celebrate Thanksgiving on Tuesday instead of Thursday because my retail employer is making me work around the clock on Thanksgiving. Who needs a Pandora bracelet on Thanksgiving day? Go spend time with your family," says Nicole Corso.

I took it upon myself to create a short survey of about 25 participants on SurveyMonkey to see what shoppers and non-shoppers of all ages and demographics really thought about Black Friday. Through my research, I have found that over 70% of participants say that we should entirely close stores on Thanksgiving, and keep Black Friday sales on Friday mornings.

I also found that 50% of shoppers go to Target on Black Friday, but over 40% have Thanksgiving dinner at 4pm. This means that the Target corporation completely disregarded the fact that their customers and employees would have to miss time with their families and friends because they had to get in line or man the lines for the 6pm Thanksgiving opening.

So this year, instead of rushing to the stores to buy the biggest television or instead of fighting the other moms for the cutest Queen Elsa doll, think about the non-materialistic things that really matter to you this holiday season.