Thanksgiving sparks the beginning of the Holiday season. It’s that time of the year when we gather around our dining room tables with our families and bask in the sentiment of being home, surrounded by the ones we love. The holiday is supposed to be exactly what it sounds like- giving thanks and discussing what we are grateful for. But as soon as the stuffing and turkey digests, we are off to the malls to indulge in the latest Black Friday sales. We somehow forget all the things we are grateful for and need to satiate our lives with more and more.

Back in 1621, when the Pilgrims had their first Thanksgiving celebratory feast, there was no “Black Friday” shopping expedition that followed the dinner. Fast-forward to today and the glimmer of Black Friday is intensely alluring, especially with Christmas right around the corner. We justify our outrageous consumer habits by saying we are buying presents for the loved ones in our lives.

From a stabbing in a Virginia Wal-Mart parking lot to an altercation with a police officer that resulted in a gunshot, this year’s Black Friday was no different, riddled with multiple instances of violence. Despite the instances, large retailers have reported strong numbers of shoppers. Many stories even opted for an earlier date, opening up their doors Thursday evening in the hopes that this would increase sales. According to the National Retail Federation, sales are expected to raise 3.9 percent during November and December of this year. This is good news for our economy but when do we draw the line. Have we come to the point where we trade in our Thanksgiving dinners for a new TV? The juxtaposition of spending an evening discussing how grateful we are for the things we have muddled with the pressing desire to go out and add more stuff to our lives is hypocritical to say the least. Perhaps we need to redefine our holidays, refocusing our attention on our values. Next year we should challenge ourselves to stay away from the malls and find ways to show appreciation without the material goods.