This is my first Christmas being married. I wanted to make sure, while blending the traditions of our childhoods, that we made our own as well. The first on the list was Black Friday shopping.
I have gone shopping on Black Friday a few times before, and I actually enjoy the hustle and bustle. This year, the stores were a little less crowded, but only slightly. Most people are on a fairly tight Christmas budget this year, so getting the most bang for your buck is important.
Unfortunately, in the quest for the best gifts at the best prices, people have become even more aggressive than before. The New York Times documented a story of a 19-year-old woman in Ohio who jumped on the shoulders of a man who tried to take the flat-screen HDTV she was planning on purchasing. She got an elbow to the face but won the prize.
In New York, a temporary employee working at a Wal-Mart was actually killed after being trampled by 2,000 crazed customers who broke down the door before the store opened. Other employees were seriously injured trying to rescue the man.
When it was announced to customers the store needed to be cleared because someone had been killed, they got angry and refused to leave, shouting, “I’ve been in line since yesterday morning” and continuing to shop.
With stories such as these, I start to wonder: Have we forgotten why we are shopping in the first place? It seems like some of us have.
I once heard a story of an elderly man who gave oranges to his grandchildren in their stockings. As they got older, they told their mother they thought it was a stupid tradition, and they didn’t understand why he did it every year.
She told them their grandfather used to receive an orange in his stocking from his father during the Great Depression because it was all he could afford. Though not much, it was heartfelt and a sacrifice.
Though we are not quite at the level of the Great Depression economically, we are all feeling the effects of tighter budgets. You would think, now more than ever, we would remember Christmas is more than just the gifts themselves, but the thought behind them.
Though we are in a credit crunch and many suddenly find themselves using a budget when they never had to before, we are still one of the most prosperous nations in the world.
In the midst of the devastating attacks in Mumbai, India, and the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe so intense that foreign aid workers were turned away, Americans are so worried about getting the flat-screen HDTV on sale at Wal-Mart that an employee is trampled to death for simply doing his job.
Shopping is important for the economy and I am not saying shopping in and of itself is bad. It is when shopping and the quest for the perfectly priced gift consumes us that we have forgotten the reason for the gifts in the first place.
Janne considers Black Friday shopping to be a new favorite tradition of the Christmas season. Tell her yours at janne.gaub@gmail.com.