- Image by thinbegin via Flickr
Do you get caught up in the business of what has become common in these here United States and gone forth into the great unknown that is Black Friday? You know you get a newspaper chocked full of advertisements to make your kids drool and then you head out into the cold early in the morning (or late at night) to get a “deal” on these things?
Well as I type this it is almost 7am. decent people should be asleep or just waking up if you are one of those “morning” type people. I am not one of those. Still, Toys R Us opened on Thanksgiving night at 2200, sorry, 10 pm to let the sales start. Walmart started selling stuff at 1201 am. Sometimes I am still amazed at the lengths that parents go to to make Christmas special for their kids. (*note, this is a stock picture and not of the toys r us I was at. if it were, I would have started about beyond the picture at least double if not triple the people that are shown here*)
Tonight I saw some very interesting points of Humanity. I saw grumblers and malcontents waiting in line with the placid and the comical, all hoping to get inside the store before the 12 degrees afforded to us by a doozy cold front froze parts that we would rather have not frozen. I saw people just grabbing things, for the sole purpose that they were on sale and then proceeding to misread the 20 items or less sign and seem to see an extra zero on it. I could blame fatigue, but it was on 0230 at that point.
One thing I didn’t see was people fighting over things. I have always heard stories of things coming to blows over a toy or a movie, but I didn’t see any of that. I guess the earlier times opening helped out with that. I also saw people in relatively good spirits. People who were forced to be together by the commercialness that Christmas has become. But most people were nice to each other, or ignored most everyone else (like I did) while plugged into my MP3 player. I thought at one point that there was some hope, albeit small and shrunken like the raisin you find under the stove next spring, that humanity can endure.
So yes I fell, no jumped, into the quagmire that is Black Friday and came out tired but unscathed on the other side. It made me all the more happy that we decided to have our kids make gifts for each other and for the Grandparents. It beats waiting in the cold. And then I got a call from my wife that you could get darn near everything online for the same price. What a load of crap.
I would so love it if anyone reading this would regale us with tales of Black Friday present or Black Friday past. The comment section is lonely and wants to hear from you. Yes you, guy in the red shirt, leave a comment! And then please share via one of the many exciting social networking sites listed below.
Thanks for reading, I can’t wait to hear your stories.
-Justin
I’m enjoying my Black Friday…and I despise crowds of shoppers.
I’m here at the house…er, yurt…and haven’t left my property all day, and won’t, but I’m taking care of Christmas presents just the same.
I turn wood for fun (and money…LOL) and I’ve been doing the last parts of finishing two bowls and a vase I’ve turned for a few friends, and I’ve turned 5 wood pens, and put a finish on them, with 5 more to go in the next month.
Over the next couple weeks various assorted ceiling fan pulls and wine bottle stoppers will come off the lathe, be finished, and wrapped in brown grocery sack paper.
10 days before Christmas comes the presents created in the kitchen…first cookies with the longer shelf life, then pies and cakes for folks close enough to hand deliver to immediately before Christmas so they don’t go stale.
Yep…this is a GREAT Black Friday, and I haven’t even seen a paved road so far today…
Sounds like a really good day Bob. I love working with wood but I am not much good at it. My Daad does a lot of things. I am working on a bread serving bowl for my wife for Xmas this year, It will be about 14″ round (the cut out part) and I left the gnarly bark on the outside. It is a vertical cut but I cant remember the wood. I think it willl be one of the best gifts I have made for her. She liked the birds Eye Maple tatting shuttle a couple years ago. I am taking your advice for all extended family gifts though, cookies and candies mean more I hope.
You won’t catch me out on Black Friday. My son, who works at Wal-mart had to go in at 3:00. His store didn’t close last night, they just have a schedule about when you can buy the sale stuff, If I have Christmas shopping to do, it will wait until Monday.
So what is the draw. Is there only a limited number of what you want? Or is it that there is a price that is good only for the middle of the night?
“The enjoyment of plenty made the Romans forget freedom.”
A quote from “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”, written in…the mid-1700’s.
Somehow appropriate on this Black Friday.
Loved Black Friday. Was in and out in less than 45 min- 20 of that was in line. The line was cheery- but maybe that was because it was on a military base.
I am thankful for joyful people who know that the prise is that we are lucky enough to live in this country:>)
Not the same thing over here lol; our sales started a good few weeks ago, and they get better gradually on the run-up to Christmas.
Either way, I shop online for a reason. =)