Black Friday approacheth, and I do love a new purchase ...
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Artist:
Ah, the Thanksgiving holiday is nearly here. Frankly, I can't wait to get to brining and cook the 20-pound turkey, and cooking all manner of treats for the family and our friends. I've even been able to skive off work the rest of the week, and we've left home to visit our dear friends in the Ozarks.
However, I'm really not looking forward to the day after Thanksgiving, or Black Friday as now known. To quote Lewis Black: "Thanksgiving used to be Thanksgiving, and it was its own holiday, not Christmas: Part 1. When I was a kid, you ate, and you drank, and you passed out and nobody woke you up and said, 'Let's go shopping.'" Now it has become and ever-earlier all-day orgy of consumerism. You'd think that since we're supposed to be in a recession, it would be less well attended, but this year it's starting earlier and going longer than ever before.
(Side note: my friend with whom we're staying is a general manager at Best Buy, so he gets to start his work day at midnight Friday morning thanks to this lunacy.)
What will I be doing? Alas, I will be staying in the house and watching over six kids (our two and our friends' four) so my wife and her friend can go get their Christmas shopping done early. So I'm not sure if I'm the right person to decry this ugly consumerist trend, but I will anyway.
Here's a thought: if you do decide to go out the day after Thanksgiving to make your Christmas purchases, go local. Suport local businesses that could really use your sale, especially if they support hand-crafted merchandise. This would be a good year to not only support a neighbor or two, but relearn the value of "mend it, fix it, make do or do without".
Here's some music to help drive the point home:
Or just give this playlist a good spin while you something other than inhabit the mall.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (15)
amen, brutha.
although i'm one to talk because i was with my mom when she was the lucky winner of a $100 gift card for being one of the first ones in the door at a bookstore last year :)
I get to be at work at 5 AM, lucky me! I've also been running the night crew this holiday season, so more often than not I am at work until 2 am. Ah the joys of being a retail bitch.
Loving the playlist though!
ya ive decided to do all my black friday shopping from the comfort of home. amazon has been having crazy deals all day and for the rest of the week.
The Ozarks? That's my country down there! Well not quite, I'm staying firmly in the city and county of St Louis for the holidays. Have a good trip!
The playlist is lovely, hitting all the right spots as I'm throwing everything into a bag before a long car ride home.
I do not set foot into any retail establishment for the purpose of shopping from mid November to after the New Year. Those crowds bring out the evil in me and I just can't understand why they won't get the sorry Dale out of my way!
I'll stay home Black Friday and listen to your playlist. Evil Amber can rest after the T-day meal. :)
Thanks, Dale and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. xoxo
Thanks everyone! Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! :)
Danielle, it's been ages; good to hear from you! How's PSU treating you?
Julia, to be precise we're in Ozark, just south of Springfield, MO. In fact, a few of our group (not me, though) will be heading up to the STL on Saturday to go to the St. Louis Temple.
Amber, that's the reason I agree to watch the kids: it generally means that I can nap on the couch and watch football.
Great post and comments. Has anyone noticed that Joe Jackson sold one of his songs to Taco Bell for TV spot? Kind of disappointing, but hey, he's getting some exposure and cash.
"I'm the Man who gave you the yo-yo!"
it really has been ages! I'm doing well, but taking a break from good ol' PSU at the moment. I may be going back part time in the spring. Right now I'm just looking forward to my trip to Barcelona next week!!
Hope you are doing well and have a very happy Thanksgiving! :)
Dale, I'm with you in terms of buying and doing local as much as possible. For those others who have a more international mindset to making a difference try a new approach to holiday gift giving. This is from a friend of my brother-in-law that works with Trade as One. Take a look as you consider your holiday buying and if it seems meaningful to you, please pass it along to others who might be interested.
***********************
Message from Stuart Rentz (COO, Trade as One)
We've just finished our Trade as One video for 2009. It's about 2.5 minutes long, and explores the connections between our spending and the lives of women and men on the other side of the world.
Our hope is that this video can be the tool that anyone can use to explain why Fair Trade is so important, why Trade as One exists, and how our spending can make a discernible difference in the lives of people living in desperate poverty.
Our goal is that 10,000 people would see this video before Christmas. That would be 10,000 people that learn that there is a better way to do both our regular spending and holiday gift purchasing. We'll be promoting it on our site, blog, facebook, and twitter, in the hopes that as many people as possible get exposed to this idea.
In addition, faith communities will be using this video as a tool to explain the idea of Fair Trade, and how it relates to their faith. If you know any faith communities that would want to use the Holidays as an opportunity to promote less consumption and more fairness, please point them towards www.tradeasone.com/justone to learn more.
Take a look by clicking on the link below, and if you think it's appropriate, pass it along to your network. Thanks!
http://tradeasone.com
Thanks
Ah, Springfield...my brother goes to college down there. Also, if you're going to the huge temple off of Highway 64, or the one further in from the county, you'll be ridiculously close to my old house. The one off the highway is gorgeous though, I hope you enjoy it.
And don't worry, tomorrow I fully plan on blowing a large amount of money shopping from my local stores. I love being home...
Yeah, it's the building off highway 64. I've only driven by that one, when I was in STL last year for a job interview.
Heya! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
I don't really understand. Why does everyone shop on the exact same day? And from retails, at that.
Well, since most people have Thanksgiving off on Thursday, those same people usually get that Friday off as well. Retailers, being enterprising sorts after all, decided that it would be a good idea to offer sales to encourage people to shop their stores that day. It worked better than expected, as women left their houses in droves to escape the sounds off football (the only other thing going on that day). Other retailers saw a good thing and started offering more sales, so more people started shopping that day, and a vicious cycle developed. Now the stores have even started opening late Thanksgiving evening. Soon enough, they'll start at 6pm, after most people have eaten, and they'll still get huge crowds.
Whereas I had the more traditional, but possibly no less toxic male Thanksgiving Day: played football in the morning, ate way too much food, fell asleep watching football. It was all I hoped for and more. :)
went out once today and that was for coffee........no lines and good java make me happy