As the Thanksgiving weekend winds down, I feel constrained to point out that its transformation into a commercial enterprise is not an entirely welcome development in our culture.

One of the signal delights of what was once the quintessential family holiday was that it had virtually no commercial aspects to it other than, perhaps, increased food purchases. There were no gifts expected, none to be given. Just good family time was the expectation, not always realized, even back then, and even more rarely today.

Retailers recognized the value of the Friday after the holiday event, exploited it (that's what they do), and now the holiday is little more than a precursor to midnight shopping, with midnight, in some places, coming at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday evening.

How very . . . progressive of us.

Hope you all had a happy shopping experience.

I didn't, but then, I'm one of those bitter clingers who rejoices, only sometime, over how we once did things and what it meant to me, if not then, now.

That's all.

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