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Embrace Change but Make Tradition Your Servant

Attached to this festive frenzy is a business opportunity or two. Put some thought into how you might participate in the pandemonium. It’s pretty simple, really. People buy things from need. What do you have that others need?

Thanksgiving is that special time that happens only once a year. Fortunately. It’s a time for peace and love and opening our hearts and homes to relatives we normally don’t bother with. It’s the season for vapid overindulgence — stuffing ourselves with turkey (bird meat that’s usually reserved for club sandwiches, frozen Weight Watchers entrees, and an occasional tasteless, low-fat burger). Football — lots of football — and couch naps are the order of the day, while the exotic foods that are eaten only at this time of the year (yams, cranberries, and that dried-up bread stuff — what is it? Dressing?) vie for domination of our glutted stomachs.

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Thanksgiving is the first scheduled disruption of the academic calendar, the first back-to-the-neighborhood holiday for faraway college students, some of whom travel hundreds of miles to rejoin their families for four days of feasting, revelation of newly acquired tattoos and shopping. Ah, yes — shopping. Turkey Day also marks the last day of sanity before the full-blown holiday shopping season ensues. The day after, lovingly known as Black Friday, is the traditional start of retail mayhem.

It’s all crazy, that’s for sure, but we all love it — we must, because we repeat it every year. Attached to this festive frenzy is a business opportunity or two. Put some thought into how you might participate in the pandemonium. It’s pretty simple, really. People buy things from need. What do you have that others need?

I can conjure up at least a dozen ways you might fit into the holiday celebration equation. Here are a few:

Families gather. Busy households all benefit from a doorbell camera. They watch TV. You provide the hardware and the skill needed to supply a flat panel and source. Some families travel — and you can install the surveillance cameras and alarm panel interfaces that allow them to do so with relaxed peace of mind. Need we go on?

The only thing better than watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is watching it on a 98-inch display in your own living room — except perhaps being able to dim the lights, raise the blinds, answer the door and adjust the room temperature, all without leaving the ever-loving sofa. You’re getting the idea, right?

We live in an enlightened age when our children are no longer taught that Native Americans provided a sumptuous feast for the first generation of trespassing Pilgrims and welcomed them into their wigwams. Middle school students already know more about computers, telephony, and social media than their parents have enough time left to learn. Although the world changes faster than we can imagine, some things — like the Thanksgiving holiday — remain the same. Embrace change, but make tradition your servant.

Have a great holiday.

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