Tis The Season

The turkey is done; the leftovers begun, now we enter crunch time for Christmas and Holiday shopping. It seems that the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas would be plenty of time for shopping but for most Americans it is never quite long enough. The procrastinators among us make up the majority and as a result, we are struggling to keep up even when we start out ahead. And how far ahead! Black Friday is the traditional 'start' to the holiday shopping season. For those of you who didn't know, it's called Black Friday because most retailers can record the days sales in black (indicating profit) as opposed to red (indicating loss).

In years past, families with the shopping bug have gotten up before the crack of dawn to get in line or go to stores before the rest of the crowd converges. These days it seems the line up begins even before that. I was headed to a friend's house to celebrate Thanksgiving this year and I was surpised to see people lined up outside the local Best Buy early in the afternoon, long after the store had clsed for the holiday. I figured there would be several such 'die-hard' shoppers. As I was on my way home later that evening, happy and content on loads of turkey and other foods, I was shocked to see that there were now hundreds of people standing in line. Talk about getting a jump. It was more than eight hours until dawn.

All across the region and indeed the country, hundreds of thousands of people were lined up waiting for the chance to get some great bargains. Retailers aren't fools, they know that the earlier they open their doors, the more likely people are to come to their place to shop. I just find it sad that so many people are rushing through or skipping entirely, Thanksgiving just to go shopping. I agree that saving a couple of hundred dollars or so on a laptop is a pretty good bargain, but if you scan the papers in the days leading up to the holiday season, you'd realize that these same items are on sale for a similar amount throughout the year. There are the occasional bargains which will be for that night only, but again, it's a sign of group think.

There's just a little something in us that wants to be a part of the action as well. A lot of us begin to get that itching sensation at the back of the neck. "Perhaps if I stand in line too, I'll get a good bargain." I have only stood in line for a couple of such things before but never through the night and never at the expense of spending time or celebrating with my family and friends. Perhaps I'm a bit of a sentimentalist or perhaps even a traditionalist; but there was one thing that I remember hearing in a documentary on Thanksgiving and that was the fact that Thanksgiving was the one holiday that was relativly immune to commercialization and such. With the ever increasing numbers of people standing in line to get bargains on Thanksgiving evening itself, it may not be much longer before this festive time of family and friends gives way to becoming another shopping holiday.