MASON CITY – The race to the bottom of commercializing the Christmas season ramped up yet again this Holiday season as another big retailer announced it would be opening even earlier to kick off the biggest shopping weekend in the nation.
JCPenney announced this week that it intends to open all its stores at 5:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day “to kick off Black Friday shopping”.
JCPenney is a struggling retailer that has closed stores all over the country and may be looking for an edge to help pull it away from the edge of bankruptcy. It was also slapped by a judge with a $2.7 million settlement last year for bilking Iowans in buying club membership scams, so any extra cash it might make that weekend might help offset those losses.
Many people are now saying that they are being turned off by the Holiday shopping season and the long lines and maddening shopping frenzy that comes along with it.
When asked if she would be shopping on Thanksgiving Day to kick off the Christmas season, one Catholic woman reminded that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birthday, and all this materialism might not sit well with Him.
She quoted the Bible: “In the temple courts [Jesus] found men selling cattle, sheep and doves and other sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. [John 2:14 & 15.] Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. [Luke 12.15.]”
