Here is a quick reader pop quiz. What major American Holiday did you celebrate last week? Any choice is valid; I won’t judge:
A. Black Friday
B. Cyber Monday
C. Football Rivals Saturday
D. Thanksgiving Thursday
Perhaps you are a competitive shopper and picked “A,” . Last week was all about the preparation and planning required to seize the bargains. Your activities included an extensive scouting report and plan before proceeding with your hunting party. Hopefully going in for the “killer deal” did not lead you to brandish pepper spray like the woman at the L.A.-area Wal-Mart; she felt threatened by fellow shoppers who might have gained an advantage on a game console that was on sale.
If you were an employee of Macy’s, Toys ‘R Us, Wal-Mart or Target, “D,” might not have even been an option since you had to work on Thursday so those retailers could open up early to get a jump on “Black Friday.”
Maybe you picked “C,” Saturday, as your big day was the snack, drink and betting line of college football games. The rest of you might be “B,” seekers watching for early bird special apps that could bring up-to–the-minute “steals” to your cell phone. No matter which event you celebrated it all adds up to one thing: the kickoff of holiday stress season.
While I enjoyed a little bit of each day, call me old-fashioned, I still like to think that the main event of the four-day stretch involves pilgrims, turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie and thankfulness and I find the commercial intrusion disruptive. It appears, however, that the biggest non-secular holiday we all share has been demoted to a meal wedged between Halloween and Christmas. Without the “timeout” of Thanksgiving, the feeling becomes one of being swept up in the tide of holidays rather than riding the wave.
Please click here to read the rest of this blog at PermissionSlips, a blog written in collaboration with friend and fellow Mercer Islander , and find out how to slow down during the holidays.
