Black Thursday? What next?

The NYT had an article on Veterans Day about stores in the U.S. opening late at night on Thanksgiving evening in order to beat the Black Friday rush. On the same day on Facebook, a friend posted a picture of Nordstrom's sign, which announces that they do not decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. I have boycotted Macy's since 1992, due to their progressively more advanced Christmas decorations, which I believe now appear around Labor Day. Barring the obvious arguments about loving the season you're in and the commercialisation of a religious holiday, I think there are some other considerations afoot with this advance Black Friday movement.

I live in Switzerland. One of the first things I learned about Geneva is that all businesses are closed on Sunday, with the exception of 1) restaurants; 2) bakeries (the Swiss feel fresh bread is a natural right); 3) farmer markets like the one right near my flat; and 4) businesses willing to pay double their employees' salaries for working that day. This is because they view Sunday as a family day. They also close business around 7pm daily and actually in the past few years voted against having later shop hours. The result is that not only is it somewhat harder to get quotidian errands done, but one also does much less mindless shopping. I consume less here - and that's actually rather good.

Big A.. Pig Roast

Last weekend, I finally made Jimmy's Big Ass Pig Roast. This has grown to one of the most important days of the year for him, and I think he was really touched that I came up. I also got to spend some one-on-one time with Dad, since Mom wasn't back in town till Sunday afternoon. It was very touching that he told me how proud he is of me, working for the Red Cross. His work with FEMA gives us a common base of discussion. We also went to some yard sales and a barn sale. It's kind of fun that he enjoys that as well.

The pig roast is a phenomenon in itself. It's a weekend long festival that includes a permanent stage for the bands, tents, a beer truck (Jennie and I sponsored a keg in honor of Jimmy's birthday and got our pictures next to the truck), stairs dug and cut into the pasture, a stream passing through, cows in the background, and an enormous pit to cook the pigs overnight. The bands are rather good - impressive, really. At one point in the evening, Mom's 12 dozen cookies having been consumed, some of the kids turned over the tupperwares, grabbed serving utensils and had an impromptu percussive jam session. Really amazing! A lot of people camp out.