Thanksgiving Day. Still. I'm at C.I.'s so I'm in California. It's eleven at night here. (My time stamp is East Coast because that's where I live.) It was a great Thanksgiving. And I just finished 3 turkey and ham sandwiches. Left overs are the best!! :D
Elaine and C.I. went with our daughter to a Black Friday sale at a Big Box store. They were bored and also thought it might provide a topic that could be covered at Third. Simple enough, right?
Wrong! :D Big Box Revolution! There were flat screen TVs of various sizes. C.I. noticed that a large number of Hispanic customers were grabbing the $69 wall mount box and nothing else. She said to Elaine, "Do you think?" The box was the same size as a flat screen TV and it had a big flat screen TV on the box. So C.I. starts asking people what they're buying. (Asking in Spanish.) They thought they were buying a flat screen TV for $69.
Was the store intentionally misleading? I don't know. But people did think they were buying a flat screen TV when all they were buying was a box of wall mounts for a flat screen TV.
Elaine said C.I. also got stuck signing autographs which is funny because she said she was going to be low profile. I guess when you're leading a Spanish revolt in a Big Box Store it's hard to go unnoticed. :D
They went through the store eating Special K and drinking Diet Cokes. That would have been it because they were going for research and photos. (And stopped taking photos, Elaine told me on the phone, because they felt bad.) But our daughter saw a Barbie princess castle (that's probably not what it's called -- it's a castle for Barbies). Please, please, she said. We're going to have to carry it back on the plane when we could get it at any number of stores back home but she really wanted it and she was pointing out how all the other little girls were getting them . . . And, C.I. pointed out, it was $139 so it would be part of the Black Friday experience. So they're getting that. But, last time Elaine called, they were heading "deep into the toys" (the castle was on a corner) so who knows what else they'll get.
I had an e-mail about Thanksgiving and how they wouldn't celebrate it.
So you went to work today and didn't take the day off?
Of course not. Everyone's enjoying the days off if they get them.
I do understand people being opposed to the theft of the land from the Native Americans. But are we stupid enough to think that took place one day? That took place over years and years and years.
If you want to go to the origins, my take is the Native Americans were wonderful hosts to the pilgrims who went on to screw them over. So the lesson from that? Be Native Americans. Be wonderful hosts.
Thanksgiving is a great holiday to me because it's about being with people you love and it's about coming together and welcoming. Christmas? I love it but it's about Jesus and Santa. Thanksgiving is about us. It's about people coming together.
Look at Elaine and C.I. They and Rebecca were roommates in college. It was their freshman Thanksgiving, Rebecca was the first to leave for home. C.I. was finishing up a paper or trying to before she left. And that's when she asked where ____ was? (Elaine's brother. I don't know if Elaine's mentioned him by name at her site, so I'm not naming him here.) C.I. used to date Elaine's brother. So Elaine's brother's out of the country and she's just going to be by herself.
C.I. didn't go home. She went to the grocery store, got a turkey and fixings, invited everyone around the campus that didn't have somewhere to go and they had a Thanksgiving. And that's why Elaine and C.I. always celebrate Thanksgiving together. There are two times when they weren't able to so they were on the phone with each other for two hours each those days.
But that's their first Thanksgiving.
By the way, I'm talking about:
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
in this post. Marcia? She's blogging tonight so be sure to check out her site. I was on the phone with her while writing some of the above. She's doing a TV marathon with her friends and grandma. :D They spent most of the evening laughing like crazy. She said they had a really good Thanksgiving and her favorite after dinner was . . . Read her tonight, she'll tell you. And be sure you read C.I.'s two entries today:
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