Instead of eating nice home cooked meals, families are dropping their turkeys and going to the mall.

For the longest time, kids have been bombarded with imagery and stories about Indians and white colonists sitting down and eating a Thanksgiving meal. Now all of those paper turkeys drawn from traced hands, and hours spent make a “perfect turkey” are being contradicted.

Stores like Wal-Mart, Kmart, Kohl’s, Toys “R” Us, and Macy’s are just a few of the many stores that are now officially open for Thanksgiving hours.

According to Sabrina Ehmke, psychology teacher, with all of the distractions that people have today like cell phones and media, stores being open on Thanksgiving will make it even more difficult to stay connected to our families.

“I personally have my own family traditions, so I am very opposed to these stores deciding to be open,” explains Ehmke.

Senior Timothy Ruel states, “ Since Thanksgiving is a national holiday, I have no problem with the stores being open if the workers don’t. If someone would rather work and earn money than be with their family they should be able to.”

Other students feel different. Sophomore Lauren Galan says, “I feel that it’s great for stores to stay open on Thanksgiving. Then, people who forget to buy certain foods for their Thanksgiving dinners, they’d be able to get it.”

However, junior James Allen says, “I just think Thanksgiving has become too much about stuff and less about family. So by stores staying open, they basically are saying that family doesn’t matter to them.”

Only time will tell how the rest of Evanston will react to these store openings. For the students that may not necessarily have Thanksgiving traditions, this may not affect them at all. However, for students that do have traditions, it’s now a time to choose between family dinner and exciting new deals.