The Irony of Black Friday

I do not want to put up my Christmas decorations a week before Thanksgiving. I do not want to completely ignore my favorite holiday and its pumpkins and turkeys just because a fat guy in a red suit is supposed to bring people presents. I do not want to sing Christmas carols, ever, I hate them. And I do not want to go shopping on Black Friday. I won't. You can't make me.

I don't shop on Black Friday, which is now encroaching upon Thanksgiving. Its too crowded. People are insane. You cannot find a parking space at the mall, much less get to any of the stuff you want to buy because of TOO MANY PEOPLE. And we have bought most of our Christmas presents already. That makes it kind of unnecessary for me to go out into the cold at 4 am to buy something I don't need or want.

The thing that bugs me most about Black Friday is the need for things. The need for stuff and consumption and useless crap less than 24 hours after a holiday about how thankful we are for everything we have. I fully support trying to save money on gifts and stuff for your loved ones. That is understandable. But waiting outside of a store overnight in freezing temperatures to buy a cheap computer is stupid. I will never do that. Guaranteed. Pushing other people down and pepper spraying them for an Xbox 360 is horrible. Put that lady on the naughty list. And take away her credit cards. No shopping for her. Trampling someone who is in the way and stepping on them to the point where they die, so you can buy Tickle-Me Elmo or Barbie or whatever toy your kid doesn't need is wrong, that one kind of goes without saying.

Christmas needs to back up. Its kind of a bully, pushing poor harmless Thanksgiving out of the way. Thanksgiving is supposed to be about family and football (at least at our house) and being content with what you have. Instead its the eve of shopping at 4 am and stepping on other people to get things for Christmas. I don't think Christmas means to be so pushy. Christmas has good intentions, with the giving and the charity and the Jesus/church type things that are supposed to be the entire reason behind it. Except that they're not, because of the presents. And the stores with all of their Christmas stuff up on fricking Halloween, oh how that annoys me. Christmas is bullying Halloween too, it doesn't even wait till kids have taken off their costumes before the inflatable snowmen appear over the Halloween aisle at Walmart, leering at you and making you buy cheap Walmart Christmas decorations.

We buy our kids more than enough Christmas crap. I am just as guilty (mostly because David LOVES Christmas) of having too many things at Christmas. Then I have to find a place to put all of the stuff they get because there is so. much. stuff. My efforts to scale back our Christmas present buying this year have been only mildly successful thus far, but I'm apprehensive because we're not even in December yet. My own family's need for things is annoying enough, I can't deal with everyone else's quest to own more stuff on Black Friday.

Maybe its just me. I know some people like going shopping on Black Friday. Helps them get into the Christmas spirit. I try to avoid Christmas spirit, but if I must have it I will accomplish it with cookies and fudge and rice krispy treats, not toys and movies and stuff I don't want my kids to own because Witten will try to eat all the small parts. I will not acknowledge Christmas again until after Thanksgiving, despite David's tireless nagging to put up the tree. I'm going to put off even looking at red and green stuff and make some pumpkin flavored high calorie food, because that's what Thanksgiving is about. Family, football, and pumpkin flavored high calorie food covered in whipped cream.