Did you brave Black Friday this year?
I’m not a big Black Friday shopper. Honestly, I shop enough the rest of the year that I’m not about to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to run to Target. In fact, not a whole lot can get me up at 3:00 a.m. to go anywhere.
Backing Away from Black Friday
I just don’t get it.
Why would anyone want to shorten their Thanksgiving to camp outside a store just to get a good “deal”? The only deal that could ever make me camp out anywhere would be a "free" deal… on Jimmy Choo’s (which we all know will never happen, so thankfully I won’t be loosing any sleep anytime soon. Phew!)
Normally I stay home on Black Friday. I don’t brave the traffic, the crowds or the sales. But this year, I happened to be driving past my Old Navy and saw throngs of people coming out with bags and bags of… stuff.
I was curious.
I thought to myself, "If I get a parking spot in the next two minutes, I’ll just run in and see what they have on sale." Needless to say, I got the parking spot, so I went inside.
Big mistake.
I could not believe the crowds. The line for the dressing rooms wrapped all the way around the store and intersected with the check out line somewhere in the back of the boys’ department.
Really, People? Really?
What could possibly drive you to lose at least two hours of your life waiting on line? Five dollar t-shirts that are normally $7.50 any other day of the week? Fifteen dollar cargo pants that you probably have hanging in your closet?
I couldn’t believe it. And to think unemployment still hovers around an unprecedented 9% in this country.
At the end of the day, is it really worth it? Worth the stress? The frustration?
Not for me.
You know what I did on this Black Friday? I went home and did laundry. And it didn’t cost me a thing.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Taking a Breather This Thanksgiving
I caught a glimpse of a Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Special the other day and she was drilling (yes, drilling…) holes in acorn squashes to make the “perfect holiday center piece.” She was actually having trouble holding those suckers down while trying to make it look “So Easy!”
I just can’t picture myself trying to DRILL a hole in the center of a squash so that I could have the “perfect” holiday centerpiece this Thanksgiving. Whatever happened to simply putting some candle holders out in the center of the table and hoping your 10-year old niece doesn’t knock them over reaching for the gravy?
The Holidays Are Here … Again
Yes, folks, the holidays are here … again. Which of course means more running around, more shopping, more eating, more stress, more debt … more of everything we don’t need. When you think about it, the Holidays should be a time when we strip our lives down to the bare essentials: Good Food, Close Family and Fun Friends.
But as a society we don’t. We run around cooking, cleaning, bitching, buying, stressing…and now drilling?
Don’t Buy into the Hype
When you sit back and actually watch some of these shows (or even segments on the local news) you really have to remind yourself that everyone of the hosts are trying to sell you something in the wrapper of a “Perfect Holiday”--when there is no such thing.
Actually, let me take that back: The perfect holiday is not what some marketing guru on Fifth Avenue wants you to believe. It’s not serving the perfect tasting turkey in the perfectly ironed outfit with perfectly behaved children sitting around the table waiting patiently to be served.
The Perfect Thanksgiving is Possible
The perfect Thanksgiving is one where you are able to afford the turkey, put your healthy kids in a timeout because they are over-tired and one in which you are able to actually sit down for five minutes and enjoy the taste of the meal you have been planning and cooking for days.
So this Thanksgiving, try not to stress. Be mindful (and truly Thankful) for what you have, the people around you and the meal you cooked. If you can sit back and smile at the meal before you and laugh with the company around you—it has been the “Perfect” Thanksgiving.
I just can’t picture myself trying to DRILL a hole in the center of a squash so that I could have the “perfect” holiday centerpiece this Thanksgiving. Whatever happened to simply putting some candle holders out in the center of the table and hoping your 10-year old niece doesn’t knock them over reaching for the gravy?
The Holidays Are Here … Again
Yes, folks, the holidays are here … again. Which of course means more running around, more shopping, more eating, more stress, more debt … more of everything we don’t need. When you think about it, the Holidays should be a time when we strip our lives down to the bare essentials: Good Food, Close Family and Fun Friends.
But as a society we don’t. We run around cooking, cleaning, bitching, buying, stressing…and now drilling?
Don’t Buy into the Hype
When you sit back and actually watch some of these shows (or even segments on the local news) you really have to remind yourself that everyone of the hosts are trying to sell you something in the wrapper of a “Perfect Holiday”--when there is no such thing.
Actually, let me take that back: The perfect holiday is not what some marketing guru on Fifth Avenue wants you to believe. It’s not serving the perfect tasting turkey in the perfectly ironed outfit with perfectly behaved children sitting around the table waiting patiently to be served.
The Perfect Thanksgiving is Possible
The perfect Thanksgiving is one where you are able to afford the turkey, put your healthy kids in a timeout because they are over-tired and one in which you are able to actually sit down for five minutes and enjoy the taste of the meal you have been planning and cooking for days.
So this Thanksgiving, try not to stress. Be mindful (and truly Thankful) for what you have, the people around you and the meal you cooked. If you can sit back and smile at the meal before you and laugh with the company around you—it has been the “Perfect” Thanksgiving.
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