To the Editor:

How many of you remember the days where businesses honored Christmas Day?

Giving their employees that one day off that means a lot to most people to spend the day with their families and to honor Jesus Christ. Yeah some of you may be saying not all celebrate Christmas, its not a big deal or they may say we have different religious belief and don't celebrate anyway.

But how many of you have family who work retail? How many of you would like to spend time with those who do that you don't see very often? How many of you have out of town family that come up and have family working retail who miss out on seeing those family members ?

These days businesses do not do such a thing. Why you may ask? It's all about the money. Corporate offices of most businesses don't think about how it affects their employees lives and their managers of their stores.

Some employees have younger children. We all know children do not stay little for long and watching the excitement on their little faces on Christmas morning is a precious moment that should not be missed. Some Employees may have a very ill child who may not have long to live. Those memories are precious to them as well. Some employees may have older parents whom may be ill with some kind of illness, who are not expected to live long. Those days are also precious for them to spend with them because every memory made will always be a treasure in their hearts when they pass. Some people still have their grandparents again , time is precious to them you never know when god is going to call them home.

Some employees are single parents who would love to make memories as well with their children. Christmas Day to most of us is a day where family from all over the place who come up once a year to gather in one place to make priceless memories.

Rather its eating dinner with the whole family, carrying out a family tradition year after year, going to church and doing Christmas Mass, exchanging presents those are all precious memories that can't be replaced.

Retail businesses should honor their employees and their families on Christmas. There is no reason to be open.

People have plenty of time to prepare for the holiday before hand. Why go in and purchase a forgotten item when all that does is make a sale and the following year that business is forced to be open because of it and someone is forced to work on Christmas.

Think about your families, your friends who are stuck working on Christmas.

Don't shop on that day. There are no sales on Christmas Day so why bother going? Give these people the day off!

Shelly Wilson

Massena