Happy black friday

So when did they start calling it black friday?
Why do they call it black friday?
When did our lives become so focused on consumerism?

I had never heard this term used before this year. Now it's everywhere; in commercials, on the news. I had to do some research.

Wiki suggests that the origination of the term black friday is unknown but suggests that there are three possible reasons that the day after thanksgiving may have this name.

1. it's when companies' profits come out of the red and into the black
2. it's black for store employees because of insane shopper behavior
or
3. black is the color of the sky when stores open.

This is insane behavior people! I saw ads for stores that opened at 5am this year. What about those poor store employees?! I, personally, am a fan of the concept of buy nothing day.

But enough of the bad news about today, let's talk about yesterday.

So yesterday S and I had a nice, quiet, food-filled day here at home. We started early with a fabulous german pancake (it's really a mix between an apple pie and a custard pie).



Then later we had the (almost) typical American Thanksgiving dinner.



Doesn't it look delicious? Yes, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, green beans, carrots, and Tofurky (ok, I said almost typical). S and I are vegetarians and prefer the non-turkey death version of thanksgiving.

It was a good day to take stock of all the positive things in my life.
1. S
1. Sterling
1. Issac
1. Dylan
1. very good friends
1. very good family
1. a comfortable home
1. living in a great location
1. fabulous weather all the time
1. a comfortable income
1. great hobbies and the time to do them
1. a very good job
1. good coworkers
1. good health
1. the ability to pursue the things we want to
1. living in a country with lots of privileges (yes, I don't like most of our current leadership and the way lots of things are, but it could be so much worse I guess)

That's just a short list, the things that immediately come to mind. I'm sure I could add more and more if I kept working on it. You'll notice everything is number 1 on the list too. I don't think it's possible to rank blessings. They are all important.

I think this has been really evident to me over the past couple of weeks. Issac, our sweet kitty, in in the animal hospital as we speak. He's been diagnosed with non-regenerative anemia and is have a (second) blood transfusion and a bone marrow test today. That's part of the reason I couldn't wait to get home from Chicago, to be honest. He started showing symptoms of being sick a week before that trip and had his first transfusion two days before I had to leave.

So far he's doing ok, but it's sad to think about him feeling down.
All the more important that I enjoy the time I have with him now.

To everyone, enjoy your blackness and all the post-holiday leftovers!