The Extra Day . . . . .

Leading up to this most American of holidays, a question that my wife and in-laws would repeatedly ask me if I had the day after Thanksgiving off. In response, I'd tell them that I did -- although the courts are open today, my firm is not, therefore there was nothing to worry about in scheduling a week-long vacation.

It just makes me wonder, why isn't Thanksgiving a two-day holiday? At this point, our friends in retail have made today "Black Friday," encouraging people to go shopping in the wee small hours of the morning in order to get a jump on another holiday that's a month away! For everyone who actually did have to work today, it's kind of a pain to do all the shopping at that time of night, and then rush to work with no sleep.

Not that there's anything wrong with getting a jump on the holidays -- since Chanukah is relatively early this year, it actually is a great idea to shop for gifts now for those loved ones who look forward to latkes and applesauce by the light of the menorah. That being said, putting today down as Thanksgiving, Part 2, would allow more people to shop during more feasible hours.

Besides, being Jewish, we're used to having two-day family feasts. Happens every fall with Rosh Hashanah and every spring with Passover -- we just have the first dinner at one relative's house and the second at another relative's house and everyone's happy (to the extent that's possible, of course). Why not just have a little more of the same? Heck, my in-laws have already agreed to a compromise where my folks (this year) have Thanksgiving at their house, and they have an extra Thanksgiving at their house the day after -- soon to alternate each year!

Oh well -- Congress has bigger fish to fry right now, but I'd put this bill in a larger package just to get a few votes.

So I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving, and get ready for the December holidays just around the corner!