Happy Holidays?

Wow. I just got home after going to the movies and drove by three houses with Christmas trees fully lit up in their living rooms. It's not even December! American, just when I thought I knew you, again you take the biscuit! Apparently Thanksgiving is even bigger here than Christmas and the second that the last piece of turkey meat is ripped from the drumstick and the wishbone's been pulled, it's off to the shops we go. With the official holiday being yesterday, that meant the shops were closed, including a McDonalds and Arbys I drove by. Unprecedented. It was like being in Dublin for Good Friday and all the pubs being shut. I listened to people grumble about that this spring. I can only imagine what the millions of grease guzzlers have to say about fast food alley being a no-go zone for an entire 24 hours! It turns out that everything is shut on the Thanksgiving Thursday and families gather for the traditional meal they can gorge on goodies, get sleepy from the food, head to bed early, get a good night's sleep and wake bright and early to hit the stores and take advantage of the pre-holiday sales. Most big department stores were open at 5am and the sales only went until noon so you can imagine the hordes of people waiting to cash in on big time savings. On NBC news there were people lined outside a big chain electronics shop who had camped out since 8am the day before! Guess they missed out on all that turkey and stuffing. But some of the deals are really worth the extra effort, with some giant plasma TVs having something like $1,000 being knocked off the price. This country is consumer nation and it's going to be a bumpy ride for non-consumer me. Oh yeah, and there was a recall today, a full day after the big meal, of turkeys and ham that are supposed to make people very, very sick. What are the chances of anything being left. America, you're so funny. You blow my mind.