Opinion : Black Friday? Bah Humbug!

One thing I hate to do is shop.

I know, it's not the stereotypical thing for a woman to say, but I do.

I've never understood the pleasure in roaming around aisle after aisle of things I don't want or need.

I'm not even a huge web surfer. I get online, do what I need to do, and get off...of course, unless I get into Facebook, then I don't know where the time goes!

One of the gals I know, said something like this. "I've never understood standing outside in freezing weather, waiting to go shopping with 1,000 of your closest friends!" She said it better than that, but you get the idea.

I've always been a, "I have my list, let's get in the store and get out ASAP!" I'm not one of those money makers for shop owners.

I'd much rather spend my time, thinking about what it is that I want to buy, then get online and find the best deal.

I can shop while the kids are all snuggled warmly in their beds, at 3 in the morning, in my jammies, while petting the dog and drinking a hot cup of coffee...there's not a Wal-mart in the world that beats that!

We did do the "Black Friday" thing one year, and that was plenty. I came, I saw, I got what I wanted, and left.

This year the stores felt like they should bump Black Friday up to THURSDAY, THANKSGIVING DAY!

I suppose it is too much to ask for our nation to stay home, just a few days a year, and especially for them to ponder the purpose of the day, which is to be thankful.

This year as, usually, we gathered with our family, many of whom we see just once a year, and had to rush through lunch so that they could quickly pack up and get to work. It wasn't an option. If you need the money, you need the job, and protesting isn't going to help...unless you want to join the lines of those dreaming of the now departed Twinkies.

Our society, once again, has made their craziness for busy-ness and their greed, take precedence over our lack of thankfulness.

Thanksgiving wasn't a day to get a great deal, it was supposed to be a day that we stop. We think. We take time to appreciate our blessings. It's time to gather around the table, bow our heads and thank God for the over abundance of food on our tables, the roof over our head, and the family gathered around us.

Now we quickly gobble the food, pull out the ads, and start seeing what else we need to cram into our overstuffed homes and lives.

The workers among us, rush out the door to get to work, while the rest of us hurridly pack up the leftovers careful not to be the last to leave.

Call me old fashioned, but I miss the days where you knew that Thanksgiving would be spent at the feet of grandparents telling stories of the old days.

Those were the days we still had time to say, "Thank you."