What Ever Happened to Thanksgiving?

With less than five days to Thanksgiving, all I keep thinking is “why is there Christmas commercials on?” Each year the commercials for Christmas are starting to air earlier and earlier to the point where I saw a Target Christmas advertisement as early as mid-October and I feel as if I saw only a handful of actual Thanksgiving commercials. It drives me crazy that the shopping industry focuses so much on selling their goods that the actual meaning of Christmas is lost. Upon my return to New York from Jamaica, I plan to rapidly begin shopping for Christmas and my boyfriend’s birthday with fall within a mere two weeks of one another.  The next month in a half always flies by due to all the holidays, birthdays, and the end of the semester.  I am already starting to feel the stress weigh down on me. Thankfully, having this mini-vacation has allowed me to complete work but at the same time to unwind. I know that when I get back I have several different assignments to complete prior to the end of the semester as well as shopping for the holidays. But before I start working relentlessly on my assignments I will get to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving break.

 I cannot wait to spend time with both my boyfriend’s family and mine since it has been a while since we have seen his dad because he received a kidney transplant and has not been able to see many people. In addition, my father and I always partake in Black Friday. Since my boyfriend’s birthday is December 2^nd I try and get all of his birthday and most of the Christmas shopping on this day. As crazy as it may seem, I try and research the different sales and items that I plan to buy so that I do not have to wonder aimlessly in a sea of crazed shoppers. I usually end up stopping in Best Buy, Kohl’s, Radio Shack, Sports Authority, Game Stop, and Brookstone. I might be the quickest shopper since I usually am done within 2 or 3 hours since I hate to linger for too long in any one store.

The only thing that has been annoying me about Black Friday is that it is starting earlier and earlier. Instead of starting early Friday morning at around 4 am, each year they have been starting earlier. For instance, last year they opened Best Buy at midnight and now this year, they are opening at 10pm on Thanksgiving. Same thing happened last year with Wal-Mart, they have opened 10 pm on Thanksgiving and now they are opening this year at 8pm on Thanksgiving. Not to mention that people start lining up 5 hours prior to the store opening. So what about celebrating Thanksgiving and spending time with family? Thanksgiving is supposed to be about being grateful about the friends, family, and things that you have. I feel that Black Friday counteracts the whole idea of what Thanksgiving is really about. People forget about the meaning of Thanksgiving and focus on the different sales that the various stores will be having. Granted, I am guilty of partaking in Black Friday, but, I would never leave my family in order to wait on a line to save a couple of dollars. I just wish the stores would respect the idea of Thanksgiving and at least wait till midnight to open their doors so that people can spend time with their families and appreciate the holiday as a whole. Either way I know that I still look forward to Thanksgiving and I am sure this one will be just as good as all the others.

Happy Thanksgiving! Do not eat too much J

Vocabulary

1. Rapidly – to do something quickly; fast
2. Mere – to small amount; only
3. Unwind – to relax
4. Prior – before
5. Relentlessly – to continue to do something without stopping
6. Transplant – taking something for one place and putting it into another place
7. Aimlessly – without direction; without purpose
8. Linger – to hang around
9. Counteracts – to work against 
10. Partaking – to participate in; become involved in

Vocabulary Practice

Look for the words listed below in the word search

P A R T A K I N G D F A R B V R C Z U S R T G I A I O A L H V E P A S M P J D N P O G Y Q M U L I T N S W N Q F G E H E D R I P I O J M L R K S L S W L A U I P O E M S Y H N A F S T I L J G L C O U N T E R A C T S Y V Q W T A P Y O N S T M R E L E N T L E S S L Y  .Vocabulary Words 1.    Linger 2.    Unwind 3.   Aimlessly 4.    Mere 5.    Rapidly 6.    Prior 7.    Relentlessly 8.    Transplant 9.    Counteracts 10.  Partaking

Grammar Point

An adverb is a word that describes an action, telling "how," "when," "where," "how often," or "how much" an action took place. In the phrase "the cat ate hungrily," hungrily is an adverb since it describes how the cat ate. Adverbs often end in ly. Some adverbs are: easily, warmly, quickly, mainly, freely, often, and unfortunately.

There are many types of adverb, those that describe an action's:

• manner (described how something happens) - well, beautifully, terribly, quietly, noisily, lovingly, kookily, greedily, nicely, frankly, naturally, neatly, oddly, hungrily, gently, slowly, quickly, loudly, together, independently, ...
• place (described where something happens) - here, there, everywhere, nowhere, inwardly, outwardly, nearby, far, then, away, upward, downward, up, down, inside, indoors, outside, outdoors, home, homeward, backward, forwards, southward, abroad, ...
• time (described how long or when something happens) - before, after, still, yet, punctually, today, tomorrow, suddenly, yesterday, recently, later, often, ...
• frequency (described how often something happens) - always, never, sometimes, often, seldom, yearly, daily, weekly, nightly, periodically, sporadically, rarely, frequently, regularly, normally, occasionally...
• degree (described to what degree something happens) - almost, nearly, barely, scarcely, quite, just, hardly, totally, fully, less, too, thoroughly, weakly, half-heartedly, whole-heartedly, extremely, enough, completely, very, enough, ...
• certainty (described how probable it is that something will happen) - definitely, probably, certainly, surely, undoubtedly, likely, doubtlessly, unquestionably, indubitably, absolutely, ...

Note: Adverbs most commonly modify verbs, but adverbs can also be used to modify adjectives or other adverbs. For example, in the sentence, "She is very tall," very is an adverb that modifies the adjective tall.

 Resource:

Jeananda, C. (2010). Enchanted Learning. Retrieved from http://www.EnchantedLearning.com.

Directions: chart below. Find an adverb for each letter (you can go to this link to help you if you get stuck http://www.enchantedlearning.com/wordlist/adverbs.shtml)

A	N
B	O
C	P
D	Q
E	R
F	S
G	T
H	U
I	V
J	W
K	X
L	Y
M	Z

Grammar Practice

Directions: Here are several different sentences from the blog. Circle the adverbs in each sentence

1. Upon my return to New York from Jamaica, I plan to rapidly begin shopping for Christmas and my boyfriend’s birthday with fall within a mere two weeks of one another

2. I am already starting to feel the stress weigh down on me.

3. But before I start working relentlessly on my assignments I will get to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving break.

4. The only thing that has been annoying me about Black Friday is that it is starting earlier and earlier

5. People forget about the meaning of Thanksgiving and focus on the different sales that the various stores will be having.