I shopped on Thanksgiving. [Insert gasps of horror and finger wags from naysayers.]
I have never done this before. Heck, I'm not even a Black Friday shopper, you guys. Why would I go out into the crazy crowds and fight people and fight traffic, get stressed out, et cetera, et cetera? I prefer to have my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving, if at all possible. I just prefer to enjoy my Thanksgiving weekend, the peace of it, the smells, the food, the parade, the relaxation, the start of the holiday season. I love to put up our tree and deck the halls. That's my typical Thanksgiving weekend.
I'm not against Thanksgiving or Black Friday shopping at all. The debate annoys me. I mean, to each his own, right? If companies want to open their stores, let them. You can choose to shop or not. What good does it do to argue such an inane topic?
I should just stop there. But...
So, why did I shop on Thanksgiving?
I shopped on Thanksgiving because the store of my choosing (Walmart) offered tremendous sales and guarantees on things we needed. GASP!!! Yes, I bought things for ourselves and not gifts for others. Shame on me?
No.
You see, we are cheap! I'm sure there are people in this country who are cheaper than I am. I'm sure there are people who wash out ziplock bags in order to reuse them and save a dime here and there. I'm not that cheap. But when it comes to bigger ticket items, we simply don't buy them if they aren't necessities and I would never buy something big unless it was on sale or I had a coupon or gift card.
The week before Thanksgiving the hard drive on our 1 and only computer crashed. I lost some data. The important stuff was recoverable (we think). Having a second computer in our home, with 2 kids who happen to use the laptop for multiple homeschool subjects, plus a mom who has a house to manage, a book in process, bills to pay, is something we quickly realized as a big benefit to our family. Paying half price for a PC laptop seemed to be better than waiting until after the craziness of the Thanksgiving weekend and paying hundreds more. Despite the fact that I have a rebuilt hard drive on the older laptop, it still seems on the fritz. I don't and can't trust it one bit. I was willing to brave the craziness to save hundreds of dollars and a new, reliable laptop.
Sure, I get the opinion that stores shouldn't even be open on a holiday. I get that. I may even agree with that. Everyone deserves a holiday to be with family. But think about it, do pastors ever get a holiday off? No, my husband has had to work every Easter, every Christmas, year after year until we left ministry. We never had a family holiday completely, solely together, without work. And what about our military? They never get a holiday off. They go years without celebrating the day with family! But I digress. If I agree that stores shouldn't even be open, then maybe I shouldn't have participated in Thanksgiving Day shopping. I get that line of thinking, but the stores were open and we had a big-ticket need.
I do not appreciate it when people say that shopping on Thanksgiving isn't what the holiday is about.
Um, I disagree with you there. You see, I am very thankful that God has brought us out of our financial hole. I am so thankful for how He has provided for our every need when we were in the midst of adoption and 2 job losses. God asks us to be wise with our money and shopping on Thanksgiving was a wise decision for our bank account. I was thankful that my mother-in-law could watch the kids for a couple of hours. I was thankful that I could get a break without them and have some fun with my husband - a rare treat. I was thankful for the smiles and laughs and conversations I had with other holiday shoppers. That kind of interaction doesn't happen on a regular old Thursday when I run to Walmart. And I am thankful that we'll have a new, reliable laptop that should be free from crashes for a number of years, Lord willing.
I was impressed by Walmart's organization. Sure, they moved things around that didn't jive with their store map that I printed out at home. But their staff all knew where things were and I found the line for the laptop fairly easily. From an operational standpoint, it was quite impressive! Only 1 shopper was rude to me. Another was a jerk to everyone by just cutting in line while the rest of us patiently waited for the tickets for a sale item. Other than that, shoppers were all very nice, polite, offering smiles, and good conversation while we waited. We made the most of it and tried to spread some holiday joy.
We picked up a couple of deals for the boys' Christmas gifts too and I'm excited to see them open them on Christmas morning.
No, I'm not trying to be defensive. Understand that is not my heart at all. I don't care what you think about me, because my worth isn't found in what my readers think.
I simply write to ask you to realize that not everyone shopping on a holiday weekend is a greedy, self absorbed, unthankful, ungrateful, anti-family, credit card loving, he-who-has-the-most-toys-wins, American Consumer.
I don't know if I'll ever shop on Thanksgiving or Black Friday again. The deals might be too good to pass up and it might be worth the trip if we are in need of a big ticket item again. In the meantime, I can say that I did it once and it wasn't awful at all. I think we got a great bargain and we had a positive experience.
If you're staying in today, then have a great day with your family. If you're going out shopping, I hope you get great bargains! If you're working today, I hope your workday is great!
Peace.
