Thursday is a very popular day for American football. There's nothing quite like the tradition of Thanksgiving Day football. Not football like soccer. It is an American tradition. We have had football on Television for about 50 years. It is the most popular sport in America. I can say that no matter the team you root for, watching football on Thanksgiving is a Turkey Day tradition. 

Besides that, there are some activities like playing cards, watching movies, board games, and some other activities. People play a lot of board games, like monopoly. But there is always eating.

You have dinner, but even before dinner, people are still eating appetizers and stuffs.  After dinner, if it is not too late, cards, drinking, movies or the football in any order.

What about your family?

Every family has the own time schedule. It also depends on where you live because I am from Chicago where it is cold in November. You can have snow, so a lot of time we would have a camp fire outside. Sometimes after dinner, people will go outside to enjoy a camp fire, music, hot cocoa, or drinking.

But if you are from California or LA, you will have different activities. But one of the activities which has become popular in recent years is going to the mall for Black Friday shopping. 

Wow! You go shopping in late night?  

Yep, many people probably go shopping straight after Thanksgiving dinner, honestly because we are crazy for shopping in this country. I don’t know exactly what time stores open but some stores do open late Thursday night. My sister, aunt, and uncle, sometimes they go to the stores maybe around ten o’clock, just to go shopping. Some people do spend the whole Friday and Saturday on shopping. 

Well, Black Friday traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season in the United States which includes Cyber Monday, an increasingly popular concept. What’s the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday, they are kind of connected. Black Friday is just shopping deals and discounts online and in store. But Cyber Monday is only the online deals. Normally people start shopping for Christmas presents from the Black Friday shopping. Or if you want, you can do what too many people do. I have done it before. That is on Christmas Eve, you go to the convenient stores and you just buy some things because you don’t have time. A lot of people do that too.

There are a lot of last minute shoppers at Christmas because people are so busy. Actually, a lot of people, they wait after the New Year, after the Christmas special. So we have Back Friday, Cyber Monday, post-Thanksgiving sale, pre-Christmas sale, post-Christmas sale, pre-New Year sale, post-New Year sale.... Many people buy their stuff after Christmas actually, and some of them open their Christmas presents on New Year’s Eve or New Year Day. My family has done Christmas presents opening on New Year’s Eve and New Year Day before but every family is different. 

Thank you very much Joe for talking to us today about Thanksgiving and the shopping season. Remember to tune into VOV24/7’s Culture Rendezvous, I’m Minh My. Hope to catch you guys again soon!