'Tis the Season

Now that Thanksgiving is officially over (read This Guy's back at work), it's time to start getting ready for Christmas. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Speaking of Christmas, guess what Mrs. This Guy did the day after Thanksgiving. Yes, you are correct, she braved the crowds on bLACK fRIDAY and did damn near all some Christmas shopping. Now, it's not as crazy as it sounds-- this is a tradition that she enjoys with her sister. What is as crazy as it sounds is the fact that she started at...wait for it... 4 am. Yeah, you read that correctly. I know people who don't go to bed until that time.

To give her and her sister some credit, they were able to hit 4 stores in 4 hours and obtain a superfluous amount of Christmas gifts at pretty amazing prices. However, that's just rediculous! I'm sure This Guy won't be compaining when I open my (highly secrective) gifts on the 25th. What may be even more incredible is the fact that following a nap we went out again and did even more shopping (some at the same stores that she had previously visited). It was fun. The deals were good. My point is this-- 4 AM is the middle of the night (technically later than that, but you get the point). Why was a store open at 4 am? What could possibly be the reason to open doors that early? And why in God's good name was there a line of people waiting to get inside? Why not just open normally at 8 or even 9? How many questions can I ask continuously? Why can't you just buy your stuff the week before (it used to be the day before) Christmas like me?

I'd like to suggest changing the crazy sales from crazy hours to simply marginal sales for longer periods of time and normal store hours-- it'll make more people happy. Now, who stole my Barry Manilow Christmas CD??