Happy Black Friday!

The old man showed me this quote from an article on Black Friday in our local newspaper and I had to pull it out for everyone to see. I think this sums up my impression of Black Friday:

Last year was the first time that 21-year-old University of Florida student Lindsey Jones went shopping on "Black Friday."
"I was at Target when it opened its doors and it was like something out of a movie," Jones recalled. "It was like it was the end of the world and you had to get in Target to be safe. Masses of women were running full force through the one main entrance."
Dirty looks and lots of running were commonplace, Jones said of the experience.
One mother lost her footing in the rush toward the door and fell flat on her face, Jones recalled.

Doesn't that just make you want to go out and buy, buy, buy? And so in keeping with the holiday spirit.

I've tried Buy Nothing Day as a normal practice. BND is the day after Thanksgiving and its purpose is to encourage people to not engage in the normal hogs-at-the-trough mentality of consumption that we've come to expect as our right on the day after Thanksgiving.

But Buy Nothing Day is too darn hard -- I never prepare by buying enough food in the days before to make it meaningful. This year I've decided to not worry about it. We're not big consumers in the classic, Black Friday sense. We've never gone on these rampages, mainly because we've never had enough money to really do it right.

If you insist on doing such a fool-headed thing, Punnymoney has an amusing post on Black Friday. The blog is apparently "pro" this sort of stuff so be warned.

Being aware of BND is enough for me, because it reminds me of the important thing -- I'm home with my family the day after Thanksgiving, giving me one more thing to be thankful for.

Swiped the image from Punnymoney