Unbitten by the Black Friday Bug

I hope everyone's had a happy Thanksgiving! I sure have. It's lovely to be around family, especially when you don't get to see them that often. And eat yummy food, of course. But mostly the family :)

But after the joys of Thanksgiving come the menacing hours of Black Friday. I'm not a fan of consumerism to begin with, but today's craziness is just too much. I feel like a lot of people feel the same way - especially the ones that have to work ridiculously long hours. I understand that spending is good for the economy, but I don't think the economy cares whether you buy stuff at 4 a.m. or 2 p.m. Or whether you buy it in one mad dash or spread the same purchases out over a few days. It's Commercial Christmastime, everyone's buying stuff.

Still, I wish we were buying more of the right things - fair trade, organic, items that support various charities and causes. I don't know if I'm more cynical or just practical, but I find myself wanting less and less of the stuff I used to love. Trinkets and figurines? I have more than enough, thanks. Clothes? I have too many. Electronics? I'll wait until something breaks before I buy a new one. Too bad our American culture wants new, better, more, even in the middle of a recession.

One thing I can never have too many of? Dream catchers.

What is so inherently wrong with having less? I can tell you, after spending six weeks in Peru, that it's not necessary to have McMansions and department stores and Hummers. We all did just fine cramming into the vans that serve as city buses or the crowded stalls of vendors in los mercados. My room there was probably half the size of the one I have here, but I don't know what I would've done with more space. (It did help that I brought only a tiny portion of my possessions with me, but that's just another symptom of the same problem.)

I admit to being a packrat. I make myself sort through all the junk I've accumulated every summer so that I throw at least some of it away. It's easier now that I can keep so much nicely divided into folders on my computer, but I still manage to collect an odd assortment of papers that I "might one day need." The thing is, I never look at any of them again, they just gather dust underneath my bed.

So this year, as with all of the years before it, I did not stay up late or wake up early to find mountains of stuff on Black Friday. I don't need any of the things that are going to be on sale. (I did go discount store shopping with my sister, but we left at 8:30 and I spent less than $9.) What I would rather have? More of the same - food, movie watching, family, writing, singing, friends, etc.

And something no one can ever have too much of: BOOKS!

Official More Blessed Word Count: 13,000!