Thanksgiving Day is still a day of family and friends gathering for a traditional turkey dinner, preceded by parades and followed by football games and holiday TV specials, and now, the shopping frenzy for Christmas is a part of the day for many.
The idea of Black Friday - the day after Thanksgiving Day that unofficially launched the Christmas season - is now extended into Thanksgiving and earlier. In Schuylkill County, it means the major national retailers will be open today, which in some cases is the full 24 hours. National retailers Macy's and J.C. Penney will open for the first time on the holiday.
While it may be the trend to open stores on Thanksgiving Day, Compact Sweeper in Frackville won't be one of them. And never will be.
"Not me," owner Peter Zuber said. "I don't even have any intention or thought of opening up. Even if I was going to get some kind of a bonus, I'm not opening. I want to be with the family. Holidays are for family."
Zuber said his Lehigh Avenue store has never opened its doors on any holiday.
"Every holiday we close. We will be open on Friday," Zuber said.
The states of Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have laws that prohibit the department stores, large supermarkets and "big box" stores from opening.
Pastor Bob Adams of First Congregational Church in Mahanoy City doesn't like what he sees.
"We're losing a lot of people from our churches," Adams said. "Recently, my wife and I heard on the radio that three million people in America are leaving the churches every year. We've become so much of a secular society and there are so many demands being made on us. In most families today the husband and wife both work, and the kids are so involved in so many activities. There was a time here in Mahanoy City when there were no activities on a Sunday, and now there are so many sports activities and school programs."
Adams continued, "Now, you have the stores that are competing and opened on Thanksgiving. God and the church and the faith are being pushed further and further off to the sidelines. Here in Mahanoy City and other places the churches are half filled on a Sunday, if even that much, because I believe the people don't feel there's a need for God and church until there is an emergency, such as 9/11."
Adams agreed that families are not as close knit as in the past, especially since many live so far apart, a situation that is very evident in Schuylkill and other counties in the anthracite region, where economic conditions have caused young people to leave after college for better jobs.
"We're living in a depressed area, and when they graduate from high school, many go to (military) service or go to college, and most of them don't come back," Adams said.
Psychologist Bonnie Klingerman, M.A., who has a practice in the Ashland area, is less alarmed. She said the changing of holiday conditions lead to adaptation on the part of individuals and families.
"Certainly times are changing. The blue laws are gone and shopping on Thanksgiving was unheard of 10 years ago, but it's happening more and more now," Klingerman said.
From her personal point of view, Klingerman said people will find ways to deal with changing situations.
"My thought is that humans are so resilient. I think we'll just adapt and make new traditions. We'll incorporate the Black Friday specials on Thanksgiving Day and hopefully make something positive instead of something negative."
Klingerman said those adaptations are different to some extent depending on whether you are a worker or a shopper. She said there are professions that have always required working on holidays. Shopping is more of a choice.
"Sooner or later families will adapt," Klingerman said. "Mom, and all the daughters, and the granddaughters all go wait outside of a store for it to open up and turn it into a shopping holiday. Shopping is something you choose to do and you can make it more of a tradition. I'm not passing judgement on whether it's a good or a bad idea, but that would be the best case scenario in making it fun and enjoyable."
Klingerman said people who stand in line for a store opening in the early morning hours can turn it into a party, bringing hot chocolate, coffee, donuts and other things, turning into a version of a tailgate party.
"You enjoy it, and I think if you really didn't like it or hated it, you wouldn't do it again unless you think the bargain is that important," she said. "The one time I went out, which was two Black Fridays ago, I got there at 5 a.m. I thought that would be more than early enough, and, of course, it wasn't so I ended up way down in the line. People were having fun. At least it looked that way. They were laughing and joking and I thought that this doesn't look so bad, though I'm not doing it again."
Klingerman said her idea of not going out early again could change if close family members decide to shop early and she may go just for the fun of being with them.
The idea of working holidays is not a new thing, though the requirement to work has expanded tremendously in recent times, especially in retailing.
"Convenience stores and gas stations are and have been open," she said. "I'm mostly talking here about shopping, which is something that you choose to do and becomes more fun. You can work that fun thing into the tradition a lot more than work. Nurses and doctors and policemen have been working holidays for years. My experience is that humans are so adaptable that you work with the schedule somehow. Mom is working the 3-to-11 shift, so we're going to do Christmas dinner at 12 noon. It's not the best case scenario, but families have worked around people who work on holidays."
Klingerman said that many families make accommodations for work schedules throughout the year, such as changing a birthday celebration to another day because some family members are normally working on that day and can't get off for different reasons.
"I guess the word is 'accommodation,' " Klingerman said. "I also think that, for those people who don't have family and are alone, it might give them a diversion.