Examining the essence of this holiday

Thanksgiving’s now Thanks-getting.
Once we’ve gobbled up the bird
we’ll head off to department stores
to line up with the herd.

A stampede has replaced the nap.
A family day at home
has given way to shopping sprees
while Grampa’s left alone.

Gone are the holidays we knew
of table games and fun.
“Let’s take a walk” has now evolved
to “Sorry, gotta run!”

It used to be that Macy’s
was content with a parade.
But now it seems it won’t be happy
’til it has our trade.

Thanks-getting’s getting to me.
It’s a sacrilege. It’s wrong.
It’s filling up a day with greed
where gratitude belongs.

Let’s boycott stores that undermine
the reason for this day.
Let’s hang with fam’ly, eat some pie
and take some time to pray.