The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade marks the beginning of the elaborate holiday advertisements. Then come Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The sales of the year mark the ever-popular National Materialism Day that we call Christmas. The season of giving is now full of the constant hustle and bustle of minimum wagers forced to stay at work away from their families on holidays.

I do not know which is worse: the idea that some people must work on these days or the idea that our society is so focused on shopping that they feel stores should be open on Christmas.

There is no United States law which makes incentive pay on holidays mandatory. In the worst situations, people who work on a major holiday must work for their regular day’s wage. This is fair to neither the workers nor their families because time on major holidays is far more valuable than on a typical day. If an employee simply must work on a holiday, at least have the decency characteristic of the season to give them a little extra for the sake of the day. Greed takes a high amount of blame for work on Christmas and Thanksgiving.

For those who are luckier, incentives like time and a half pay may keep workers from flaking out of a job during major holidays, but nothing replaces the value of time spent with family. This time should be a right. It is common knowledge that minimum wagers do the maximum amount of work and probably earn their days off the most. Shouldn’t they be first to deserve holidays off, regardless of extra compensation?

The movie theater is one of the worst places to go come Thanksgiving, and not just because of the crowds. It’s as though people think, “let’s go to the movies, since we haven’t seen each other in a year, so we won’t have to talk.” Maybe the problem is deeper than just a shallow need to constantly buy more trivial items. Maybe it lies in our ever-deteriorating ability to talk with the people we care about and truly have something to say. Ebbing family values are a leading reason for holiday commerce.

Of course, workers could celebrate holidays with their families on a near day off. But isn’t the fact that stores get such a significant amount of service on Thanksgiving and Christmas far more alarming? The idea isn’t about the day itself. It’s that the general public has a high demand for material pleasure over family time. There is a lot more to be thankful for than a Coach purse or a movie.

Companies should respect the worker’s right to spend time with their families on major holidays, and the families who believe they need stores and services to stay open on these days should rethink the reasons why. The season should remain a symbol of strong family values and a time for giving.