Imagine, if you will, a tranquil late-autumn evening. It’s the first day of your Thanksgiving holiday, and you are reclining in your easy chair, enjoying the warmth and gently dancing flames of your fireplace insert – with semi-realistic gas logs – and sipping a cup of warm tea from your new Keurig machine that Bed Bath & Beyond put on sale for 50% off immediately after your purchase.
Suddenly, the serenity of the evening is shattered by the slamming of the garage door, the harsh jangle of keys against the kitchen counter and the raucous rumble of wheels from an unnecessarily large and expensive suitcase across the kitchen tile, followed by shouts of “I’m home! Where’s Mom!?”
Our family is now experiencing the chaotically sweet phenomenon of our two older daughters coming home from college to enjoy their holidays with family and reconnect with hometown retail centers.
