The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase;
if you pursue happiness you'll never find it.
- C. P. Snow
This year in Canada we seem to have a new “special” day,
Black Friday. Now you would be justified
in thinking that this has something to do with a collapse in the stock market
or the day when dozens of people get fired from your workplace. But no, it turns out to be an import from the
United States.- C. P. Snow
As most of you no doubt know, the US celebrates Thanksgiving
every year on a Thursday in late November.
You can tell this because there is more than one NFL football game on
television that day. Also because there
are people popping up everywhere in what is supposed to be pilgrim garb. The
day after US Thanksgiving, which is usually a Friday unless you ate and drank
too much and didn’t wake up until Saturday, is what is considered to be the
first day of Christmas shopping. Almost
no one works on this day, preferring to take a day’s vacation and make it a
four day weekend. So, since they are
unable to eat more or stand their in-laws any longer, people go shopping. This day has become known as Black Friday,
presumably because it is the day when stores start making a yearly profit.
I’m not against Christmas shopping; after all, there is a
biblical precedent in the story of the Magi bringing gifts. But I do believe we have got a bit carried
away with the idea.
One of my favourite Christmas ornaments shows a cartoon figure
of a woman carrying several large packages, looking somewhat harried and with
the title, “Spirit of Christmas stressed.”
I like it because it seems to express what too many people go through at
this time of year. There is the rush to
be the first to get their shopping done.
When people ask me whether I have my Christmas shopping done yet, I ask
them if it is Christmas Eve already.
There is also the quest for the most Christmas presents, or the most
expensive. This seems to mostly affect
parents and grandparents, who seemingly try to outdo each other for the honour. How many toys and gizmos can you buy your
four month old? And most of all, these
days, there is the ever greater quest for THE BARGAIN! Bargains used to arrive starting on Boxing
Day (a day that is not a holiday in the US) when shops would try and get rid of
unsold merchandise. Now it starts a
month before Christmas with Black Friday being one of the biggest such days. Who knew that the Magi’s legacy would be a
sixty inch HD television?
Some may say that this is my annual rant against Christmas,
but it really isn’t. I love
Christmas. I’m as prone to giving and
receiving gifts as anyone. But my issue
is that it needs to be kept in perspective.
Breaking the bank for Christmas makes no sense whatsoever if it impacts
your financial health for the rest of the year.
Rushing out to be the first to get that big ticket item only adds to the
stress of what should be a joyous occasion.
I like to shop for the ones I love, even if they don’t give
me a hint about what they might like. I
try to remember the religious significance of the season. I enjoy hearing from people who I probably
never hear from for the rest of the year.
And when it comes time for me to go Christmas shopping, I will go with
patience and a smile on my face. I will
greet everyone with a hearty “Merry Christmas”.
I will forgive the impatient shopper who pushes ahead of me in line. I will be kind to the tired, stressed sales
clerk. I will then return home, go down
to the basement, enter a soundproof booth and scream curses at the whole
unfortunate experience.
Until then, happy shopping.
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