Thanksgiving and Black Friday

During Thanksgiving I went to Queens to eat dinner with my grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, and cousins at my Aunt's home. I visited my grandma's and grandpa's first and it was meaningful to talk to them since I haven't seen them in a while. It was about very random things and my little brother showed them new magic tricks he had learned. He's getting better at it, so he's pretty proud of his tricks. I think it means a lot for my grandpa especially to see us, so it means something to me too because he seems happy when we visit him.
My aunt made a lot of stuff during for Thanksgiving dinner. I think she's very into health because she made low-fat healthy dishes, so taking care of herself is important to her. She also exercises a lot and likes to wear tracksuits. I think meaning is created by yourself, and those things that are important to you are considered meaningful in your eyes. My aunt considers being healthy important to her so its part of what some people take as a meaningful life. Someone told me that a meaningful life is meeting your goals, or having them, and it gives a direction for people. For my aunt..it is a goal to take care of herself so its part of what she thinks is meaningful. During dinner politics came up, and the question of whether Sarah Palin was actually as stupid as portrayed. This isn't really a ritual with my family since sometimes we just have dinner with our immediate family instead of gathering every Thanksgiving. But this says something about how people do want to remain connect with their family which why there's aways these meet-ups, where everyone gathers to have dinner. Its an attempt at reconnection.
After dinner, I noticed a commercial for sales on Friday, it was for a Kohl's commercial bout a 5am special of 20% of already 60% off items. It strikes me as part of the American culture for consumerism, where people desire more and better things, and new is considered better. As mentioned in class...this might be part of a desire to seek fulfillment and happiness through buying things because its a temporary fix. People exercise that method of finding happiness since they haven't found a more permanent one. Its a throwaway culture that makes it really hard for anything to be anything but temporary.
I didn't buy anything for Black Friday, but my Mom and little brother went to Century 21 and my little brother bought some t-shirts. I was kind of tired of shopping and buying things, and guess I celebrated "Buy Nothing Day". There was alot of people at Century 21 even at 8:00 at night. After Black Friday my friends told me me about these sales that they went to on Black Friday at stores like Aristople and Forever21. Its another show for consumerism but I don't really fault them for it as its something everyone does, and its part of American Culture to shop.