In the past, our family has celebrated Thanksgiving with a trip to Shenandoah National Park, a trip to NYC for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (and power shopping the morning after) and to Boylston Street in Boston to loll around Copley Square.

This year, I was quite prepared to hit the local shops early and often for Black Friday when matters in our household took a definite turn. My son, Hoy, decided to participate with his friends Alex Davis and Rachel Williamson in Buy Nothing Day, and asked us to support him in his efforts.

Hoy's day after Thanksgiving began with pleasant exchanges with his comrades in front of Old Navy at Barrack's Road Shopping Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Their initial foray did not last long, however, as they were soon asked to move on.

After discussing their options with one another, they picked up their signs and orderly proceeded toward the sidewalk.

Before they could get there, however, they were surrounded by two police cars, a policeman on a bicycle and a van -- who apparently wanted to make certain that they understood their protests, on what is essentially private property, were not welcomed.

While Hoy and his friends spent the morning on the corner of Barracks Road encouraging passersby to forgo shopping, the rest of our family left to come up with activities of our own.

Doing our best to stay consistent with the theme, we caught up on the history of the annual turkey pardon and on the mechanations of the GOP protesters in Florida. We boned up on slow cities and slow food.

We watched The Learning Channel's Junkyard Wars and also entertained cooking up Junkyard Wars "MA'S QUICK, CROWD-PLEASING STEAM CAR," deciding to make gingerbread houses instead.

A little later on, we made our way over for a picnic at Meadowcreek Park.

At sun's set, we supported locally-based businesses by taking in dinner and a movie at Vinegar Hill. I guess power shopping will have to wait for another day.

If you have comments about Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day, or your own day after Thanksgiving activities, please send them to george@loper.org and the most representative will be posted with full attribution.

To date, comments have been received from Alex Davis, Joey Cheeks, Sue Lewis and Susan McGinnis.