Without fail, every holiday season around now, my sister will ask me, âHave you finished your Christmas shopping yet?â And then, knowing my answer without my having to say it, sheâll proceed to tell me, âI had mine done by October.â Note the by October, not in October. I call this the surprise-and-conquer method to holiday shopping, a real cloak-and-dagger operation: get in, get out before the holidays ever knew you were there.
I admire my sisterâs shopping tactics and her responsibility for making sure her family has what they most want. But alas, itâs something I love my sister in spite of rather than because of.
Because my mother watched a lot of black-and-white movies, and because I knew those movies predated me, when I was very (I really need to emphasize very) little, I actually thought that the world was gray before I was born. Movies from my time were all in color. Imagine that–I brought color to the world. Cute as that might sound, letâs face it, itâs not even foolish but all-around idiotic.
But even as an adult, Iâm certain the calendar wasnât invented until my sister arrived to bring order to the year…and manipulate it with such ease that she could have her Christmas shopping done by October.
This is not me.
My holiday shopping, which is always further complicated by my wifeâs birthday falling on December 21 (every darn year), is a race-against-the-clock situation. It seems I go to bed on October 1 (my sisterâs holiday shopping completed for weeks now) and wake up somewhere around December 20 without a single thought as to what to get anyone, especially what to get my wife.
This year, I attempted to tackle some holiday shopping at a more reasonable rate (very early for me) and was inducted into the competitive shopping arena of Black Friday.
Growing up, the day after Thanksgiving was always reserved for putting up Christmas decorations and not for shopping. Until this past Black Friday, the only experience I had with shopping on this catastrophe was when I worked retail in high school. Working that day once was enough to dissuade me from it for a lifetime. Letâs just say the day ended with me wearing a womanâs coat because a male shopper said I was the same size as his girlfriend, and he wanted to get an idea for how the coat would fit her.
At a loss for what to get each other for Christmas, my wife and I opted to buy a new TV; something weâve long wanted and needed. I wonât say weâve been enjoying prime time on a console TV, but what we have now isnât far off.
After a little research, we found the TV we wanted at Walmart, and it would be on sale between 5 and 11 a.m. the Friday after Thanksgiving âONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.â
Turned out, supplies didnât last long. My wife and I got there (not the one Huntley) at about 6:30 a.m.. The place was what my mother calls a âmadhouse,â especially the electronics section, and the TVs were all gone. By 6:30 a.m.! Some people even had two and three in a cart.
That pretty much put an end to my Black Friday shopping.
And this is where my sister and I agree, I think, that shopping Black Friday is to be avoided.
If youâre wondering what we did about a TV, we found a better one on Amazon for the same price, but tax free, so we saved about $50.
