I don't shop during Thanksgiving. I might make a run to the grocery store for a forgotten ingredient, but my goal is to stay out of retail settings for the week.
This is not bragging. I'm not saying that "I've bought all my Christmas presents already." It's not a statement of philosophical superiority: "You mindless sheeple can go spend money, I will stay here and listen to Mozart." If camping out in front of your chosen store is something you want to do, go for it. BCP does not judge. I happily cede my place in line.
The post-Thanksgiving shopping bug (like sports fandom, and the appeal of Twilight) has just never bitten me. And apparently, I'm not alone.
I'm not anti-capitalism. I don't celebrate Buy Nothing Day. I shop. But I really hate the crowds on the big shopping days and it's unlikely that something I really want will never be available, or on sale, again. My tastes are not that unique. (I'm more boring than people realize.) I wonder how much of "Black Friday" is just hype. What are the average sales on a three day weekend? Are they that different post Thanksgiving?
And the stories of brawls, stabbings, etc. are horrifying. True, I've never seen it personally (and in the entire US the total is under 5 people - hardly endemic) but it doesn't make me want to go to the mall.
So what do non-shoppers do? Personally, I watched movies, read books, injured myself getting Christmas ornaments out of the attic, cooked, ate, visited with relatives, restrained myself from arguing with said relatives, played with the cat, and edged my lawn. I was even given a new vegetable to play with. (Results will be posted later in the week.)
Now to get ready for Christmas.
I find it the headline "Black Friday Shopping Mostly for the Young" amusing. Seriously? Seems like more the middle-aged set that does it, at least based on the small sample size of people I know/
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. In recent years, I've so dreaded all the hubbub of shopping centers during the holidays that I've done 99 percent of my purchasing on-line. In fact, I've been shopping for the holidays mostly in catalogues or on-line since college, when I was so far away from family and had to send it all to different cities and states. At the vanguard, that's me.