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Sabbath, a day of rest or worship. I don’t know how this happened.  But in the past few years, Thanksgiving Day in the USA has gone from a day of mostly no work (except for a couple NFL/NBA games) to just another Christmas shopping mania day.  Did we take a vote?  Cause if we did, I missed it. Thanksgiving has lost its sabbathness.  It used to have enough holiday power to push its influence out over a four day weekend.  Hunting or harvest happened Thanksgiving morning.  Husker football happened to day after.  The other family Thanksgiving dinners got spread over the Saturday or Sunday after. Now, Christmas has pushed its power right down to the meal on Turkey Day.  So buying for Christmas is a virus that’s infected the meaning of our national neighboring holiday.  It’s a boundary issue.  That’s what viruses do.  They don’t respect boundaries. For years Black Friday had a hard and fast starting point of midnight Thanksgiving Day.  Now it has grayed over onto the weeks before. I propose taking a stand here.  I will not buy anything on sale for Christmas until midnight Thanksgiving Day.  I will not buy Christmas wrapping paper or outside lights until sunset on Thanksgiving Day.  I will not play my favorite Christmas music until I wake up from my Thanksgiving Day turkey induced nap.  There. That’ll teach ‘em!   Grace & Peace,   Rev. Kelly Karges, Senior Pastor Trinity UMC GI, NE