Saturday, November 27, 2010

Black Friday and Whatnot


I just don't get the whole Black Friday thing.  It's very bizarre.  And I still can't believe that Walmart checker got trampled to death two years ago.  Is there really any item sold at Walmart that's worth rioting over and stampeding the doorway?  And then people kept shopping, even after they heard that a person had died.  GROSS!  It makes me a little sad for the state of humanity, but still we carry on the tradition.
This year Macy's opened at 4AM.  Seriously?  Four in the morning?  I can't help wondering who the f*** goes to Macy's at 4 in the morning, but I know there were lines outside the mall, which means that there were more people than I care to count. 
Which leads me to my conundrum...why am I feeling the pull of the mall this day-after-Black-Friday-afternoon?  What the hell is wrong with me?
And while I didn't succeed in my Walmart Project (I think I was off blogging at the time, but for a brief while this spring and summer I was only buying things at Walmart on the premise that if they don't have it at Walmart, you probably don't need it...which is true, but as I have said to my friend Sue for years -- shopping is not about need!) 
Nonetheless, I am trying not to be an over-consumer this year, but somehow every year Thanksgiving rolls around and Black Friday is right on its tail and I get swept up in all the hoopla that is the "holiday season" in America. Frankly I feel kind of good to have waited until now to get into the shopping frenzy, given that this year my local Sam's Club decided mid-October was a good time to start putting out the garland and getting set up for Christmas.  Next thing you know there will be Christmas stockings lying next to the pencil cases in late July for the back-to-school-get-a-jump-on-your-holiday-shopping-frenzy.
But seriously, every year I imagine that I'll be "better," setting parameters for shopping like just getting one big gift for the kids, or just giving homemade items to friends and neighbors, but invariably I end up filling my carts with a bunch of shit to stuff into stockings or madly wrap on Christmas eve.  I'm not good at this low-key Christmas thing.
My mom is really a good Christmas shopper.  She will actually go to after-Christmas sales with an eye toward the next year and somehow she's able to get thoughtful, well received gifts a year in advance.  When I try to emulate her by getting an early jump on shopping, I just end up buying 10 times more shit than I otherwise would have because I somehow seem to forget that I have 2 closets full of presents just waiting to be wrapped up and placed under the tree.
I think I need a holiday intervention.

2 comments:

  1. I never could manage to get myself to one of those sales. The thought of having to fight for bits and pieces puts me off every time!

    ReplyDelete
  2. remember when the fat lady sat on me during the red apple sale? glad you are blogging :)

    ReplyDelete

 
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