November 28, 2008 - People should be glad I'm not one of Santa's little helpers

Reading the coverage of Black Friday this morning, I was struck by the ridiculous logic some people have when it comes to spending and the meaning of Christmas.

I've never gone out shopping on Black Friday for one simple reason...Nebraska always plays a football game that day. And in my world, football comes before crowded malls. I don't see the need to circle endlessly looking for a parking space, ANY parking space. Nor do I feel the need to be up at the crack of dawn (or long before) to get a deal on anything. I'm sure there are some good deals to be had, relatively speaking. I mean, give me a 52" flat screen HD TV for $10, and I'll be there, but knocking a hundred bucks off just isn't going to cut it for me to freeze the ta-tas off while lined up on hard cement.

But it's not the whole Black Friday tradition that I think is dumb. If shopping is your thing, and you have the money to go out and blow a load in every department store you see, have at it. But if you DON'T have the money...if you're talking to a reporter about how you're having to leverage Christmas gifts against food for your kids...don't talk about how you're saving a hundred bucks on the aforementioned TV. If you're struggling to put food on the table, do you really need a 52"? I tend to think not.

I never realized as a kid that we were actually fairly poor. Both of my parents worked full time (in fact, my mom had two jobs), but I know now my parents struggled. And I can remember more than a few Christmases where I only got one larger than average present or maybe a few smaller things, but that was it. Our Christmas tree always had a lot of room underneath it, and I remember moving what few packages we had around to make it appear like there were more. A couple of years, I even wrapped empty boxes just for the allusion. I was always amazed by people who spent an hour or two unwrapping presents on Christmas morning because for us it usually took about fifteen minutes, tops. And that was IF I didn't open the present from "Santa" on Christmas Eve after we returned from church.

So I get not having the money to make Christmas extravagant, and I imagine that if you have a large family to buy for, it has to be especially difficult in this recession. So WHY are people out buying such ridiculously large items? What makes them think that they have to buy these crazy gifts for people? I wouldn't mind a nice big TV to replace the one that I've had since I was a sophomore in college (though it still works just fine and therefore doesn't need to be replaced), but I wouldn't even think to ask someone to get that for me, or even worse, be disappointed if it wasn't there on Christmas morning. Heck! I'll be surprised if there's anything under my pre-lit but not decorated tree (kittens and decades old ornaments don't mix) come December 25th. And that's fine because I don't need anything, and I'm not asking for anything.

I understand the desire and perhaps even "need" to buy things for kids. The joy on their faces is reason enough alone. But if you're an adult, and you're worrying about paycheck to paycheck, you should not be expecting anything, especially something big and ridiculous like a 52" TV. How do you put that under the tree anyway???

Random thoughts:

1. Normally the Nebraska/Colorado football game is either right before or right after the Texas/Texas A&M game. This year it's Pittsburgh/West Virginia. I don't know what's up with that.

2. I'd never had green bean casserole until last year, but now it's hard to imagine Thanksgiving without it.

3. I wonder...if you buy a headboard that doesn't have an associated footboard...can you just buy an identical headboard and turn it around??

4. Happy (belated) birthday on the 21st to Polly Cox, and Happy Birthday on the 29th to Cheryl Stachniak!