...various ethnic groups in my neighborhood, all of whom have much reason to be thankful for being here...
"Various?" Does that mean "some, but not others," or does it mean "all, including my own?" Does it include the Lenape Indians (probably no longer in the area)? The Dutch? The English, German, and French?
At what point is one's own "ethnic group" sufficiently assimilated to have earned the right to judge the thankfulness owed by others? It seems possible that being regarded as a separate group outside of the mainstream culture might itself be an experience that tends to counter feelings of thankfulness.
Ah, that's probably not what you meant at all.
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As for Black Friday: I don't do much holiday shopping, having found over the years that the reduction of frantic preparations for the season enhances my ability to enjoy it in real time, so I regard Black Friday as the beginning of the Christmas
driving season.
Christmas driving requires a shifting of both attitude and tactics. The former is the acceptance of omnipresent heavy traffic. Things will be slow. Idiots will abound. Hitting the roads during "off-peak" hours may help minimally, but the important thing is to try, as much as possible, never to be having to get anywhere fast. It's the extreme contrast between having more to do than usual and being in traffic moving slower than usual which is the main source of holiday driving stress. You can't do much about the traffic, but you can intelligently manage your to-do list so that instead of fighting it, you can relax, not in any hurry, turn up that tape of A Nonesuch Christmas, and enjoy a little piece of the season right there in the festive cabin of you car.
The tactical change is a seasonal variation of defensive driving. Your absolute top priority at all times is to avoid the vehicular black hole. If you need to enter a shopping center parking lot, you make a beeline for the parking spots furthest from the stores, knowing that if, in error, you drift inside the perimeter of drivers looping around looking for vacancies closer to the stores, you'll never get out. You'll gladly take a longer route with more stop signs and/or lights to avoid known choke points. And wherever you go, you'll think in advance about the route. In short, you bring to bear everything you know about gridlock on the roads in your area, but you must, further,
never let your attention flag, or you can be assured you'll find yourself stuck in a left turn lane when the only way out is a right turn.
