Taking a Stand, Staying Home with My Family

I am, admittedly, not a shopper. I truly dislike shopping, especially browsing. I go to the store with a list and get what I need. So, skipping the stores on Black Friday isn't tough for me. And, normally, I would just head out for my hike and keep my mouth shut about what everyone else chose to do. 

But, I am appalled by this trend of retailers opening, not just on Black Friday, but on Thanksgiving. 

For crying out loud, stay home, give thanks, play a board game, read, or just cuddle on the couch in your post-feast haze. Thanksgiving is about being grateful for what you have and spending it with people who are important to you. It's not about getting the best deal before the person behind you in line can snag it. Spend time with your family and friends and not the deal-crazed lunatics with dollars signs in their eyes and coupons hanging out of their pockets.

Thanksgiving is quintessentially American. Dating back to the 17th century, it's about unity and breaking bread with family and community. It's a pause. It's not overtly religious, but it feels reverent and respectful. So, when I saw this campaign on Facebook, I shared it.

"Because I believe in family, I pledge to not shop on Thanksgiving. If I'm shopping, someone else is working and NOT spending time with their family. Everyone deserves a holiday."

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be helping. The list of stores that will open on Thanksgiving Day keeps growing. It's disturbing. Walmart, Toys R Us, Kmart, Old Navy, Sears, Target, JCPenny, Kohl's. Do you frequent any of these stores? I do. Or, I have in the past. I am taking a stand and will be spending my dollars at stores where actions speak volumes about how they feel about their employees. I may be a member of the "me" generation, but I find this trend nauseating.

As plugged in as we all are, if you must shop, do your retail therapy online. Your orders will be fulfilled on the next business day. You won't know the difference, I promise. Maybe we can at least keep the physical stores shuttered for the day and allow employees to stay home with their families. 

As a mother of young(ish) children, I think about the fact that my boys get more pleasure out of playing with the box that a fancy new toy comes in than the gadget itself. They love empty boxes because they can turn them into whatever they want. They can invent a board game or make a hut. They certainly won't know that you saved 80% on their Christmas present because you stood in line for 2 hours. But they will remember whatever you do that includes them.

Here's what we did last Black Friday...we took our best friends down the coast, crossed a river in our underwear, built a driftwood fort, and had a delicious picnic of Thanksgiving leftovers. 

These four kiddos - and even my husband and I - talk about that day frequently. We're talking about doing it again.

I'm not going to be shopping on Thanksgiving, or the day after. I'm going to focus on what I have and do what I can to try to stop this holiday from being gobbled up by greed.

Making Memories: Fossil-Hunting {by R}

  Fossil Hunting 

by R.

I woke up this morning on a regular day in summer. My mom told us to take good pictures but I did not know what I was supposed to take pictures of. Then my dad told us we were going fossil hunting. We were excited to get back on making our rock collection bigger.

My teacher, Mr. S. sent my dad some fossil field trip places to look at.

The first stop we went to is a donut store for breakfast. I got a filled, my brother got a coconut, my dad got a maple bar, and we shared an apple fritter.

Then  we drove by a vertical fault formation. All the other exposed walls had lines that were horizontal but this few square feet of rock were vertical. We would of stopped to check it out but there was no place to park the car.

Then we kept on driving until we came to the third stop. It was a huge hill that overlooked the whole Arroyo Seco watershed. There we found a great view and a few deer on the road. All of them were bucks.

On our fourth stop we came to a spot in the driveway where we can see these rock cliffs that came right out of the ground. They were huge! We all said 'whoa!' as it said in parentheses on the field trip paper.

Next, we came to a stop at the Carmel Valley Road. We turned right on Arroyo Seco Road as the field trip paper said. Then we kept on driving until we came to this park. They said we had to pay ten dollars to get in. My dad didn't have any cash so the lady said to go the country store and to buy something there. So we turned around and kept on driving. We couldn't find the store so we went back to the lady. She said that it is three miles out. So my dad set his odometer and we set out. When we found the store we got ten dollars, some good advice, and Gatorade. Then we went back to the lady and paid her.

In the middle of our hike we noticed that we were going in the wrong direction. The field trip paper said to go east and that was to turn left on the intersection. To make the ten dollars not for nothing, we spent some time in the river looking for cool river rocks.

Then we drove to the intersection and went left this time. We finally came to the fossil place we were looking for. When we looked for fossils we tons of clams and scallops. We collected a lot of clams and scallops and one fish.















We went home tired and with a lot of fossils.