Does anyone else feel as if the holiday season has been growing over the past few years? It used to be that the Christmas season did not start until AFTER Thanksgiving. The following day was the biggest shopping day of the year, (ever heard of Black Friday?), and the craziness of the holidays would begin. At 6 am, the morning after Thanksgiving, there would be lines waiting to get into every department store across the country. There would be sales on every hot ticket item, and the lowest prices of the year. Everyone had to get their share of the sale, and they would wait in the cold for hours. When the stores would finally open, a mad rush of frustrated shoppers would frantically scurry to scoop up as many of the treasured goods as they could. People would get hurt, some would be upset at what they could not get to in time, and it was assumed that everyone would spend a lot of money. Sounds like fun, right? A good, old American tradition.
The stores have been ruining Black Friday! They cram every last centimeter of newspaper and second of television air time with advertisements about their low price items and gimmicks to lure people into their store at the crack of dawn. What they are hesitant to tell you, is that they only stock a few of each of those items in every store. They drive the anxiety through the roof when 500 people are rushing to the same store for the same 8 blue ray players. Then they wonder why people get trampled to death.
Not only are you guaranteed to not get the item you want on the biggest shopping day of the year, (unless you are going to save money on something no one else will going for, such as underwear), but you will spend a lot of time waiting around for the sale to even begin. The stores have begun to move up the time they open to enhance you to come to them first. This year there were stores opening at 5 am, 4 am, 3 am, and even midnight! One store began their sale at 10 pm on Thanksgiving night! For one thing, spreading out the times that stores open is taking away from the madness of Black Friday. That is a pro and a con, depending on who you are. But pushing it into Thanksgiving? That is taking it a little too far. That is a day to be with family and friends, and to be THANKFUL. Not to be running around town trying to save a buck! If we keep pushing the Christmas season up anymore, soon we will be holiday shopping in our Halloween costumes.
The moving up of the season just kills the spirit too quickly. The Hallmark Channel has been playing holiday movies for awhile, radio station 100.5 fm plays holiday songs 24/7 beginning the day after Thanksgiving, and ABC Family has their countdown to their 25 Days of Christmas. Who ever heard of a countdown to a countdown? It gets to the point that people are so fed up with the holidays by the time that they actually happen, that the Christmas trees are out by the curb on Christmas Eve. I’d like to enjoy my holiday, thank you very much. My tree goes up in December, and comes down in January.
But, to each his own. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Happy (fill in the blank)! You should not let anyone decide when you should celebrate.
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