Holiday Season

It's here guys. My absolute favorite time of year. There's just something about Christmas that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Now that the other holiday is over, there are no more excuses. It is officially Christmas time, and I'm ready. 

But back to that "other holiday." You guys know what I'm talking about. It happens once a year, in the last week of November.  It's a chance for all the citizens of this country to show their appreciation for all the great opportunities we have. 

That's right. I'm talking about Black Friday.

For the past month, every time I've tried to watch TV, I've been bombarded by commercial after commercial advertising all of the fantastic Black Friday sales.  The idea of Black Friday is terrifying enough by itself, even without the sense of doom I feel for the human race as I take in the idiotic portrayals of American consumers in the commercials. Step back and think about it for a second: millions of people spend the entire weekend in a fight to the death to get their hands on cheaply priced material garbage that they don't need. People form battle plans, camp out in front of stores. When the stores open, shoppers fight and claw their way to the front of the line, using whatever means necessary to obtain the fancy piece of technology that they just can't live without. People pepper spray fellow shoppers. They knock each other over, trample others into the ground. People die on Black Friday. It's like that beginning battle in the Hunger Games, when all of the combatants are trying to get supplies out of the cornucopia thing, except the Black Friday shoppers aren't fighting for their survival. They're fighting to get more stuff. 

That's all Black Friday is, a chance for people to get new stuff to replace the old stuff that they've grown tired of. Now I'm the first to defend and support the American capitalist system, but the degree of sheer materialism surrounding Black Friday is disgusting. Whatever it's noble origins-helping the economy, helping the stores to get rid of excess merchandise and turn a real profit, allowing the consumers to make important purchases at a low cost-the trouble people will go through to buy a few items is sickening. It's just shopping, guys. The things you're buying? They are just that, things! You're just going to replace them next year, when you repeat the cycle. People DIE during Black Friday sales. Does no one else see a problem with this?

Sure, Black Friday is great if money is tight and you really, really need to get a new fridge, or cheap clothes. I understand. I love sales! I love shopping! What I don't love is insanity. The rampant consumerism of Black Friday (and it's infant sister, Cyber Monday) has all but eclipsed Thanksgiving. All of you people who were complaining about Christmas taking over Thanksgiving, look around you. You ask someone, "What was your favorite part of Thanksgiving?" and half the time they'll say "Black Friday shopping!" The one time a year people are actually thankful for what they have, and it's been completely eclipsed by consumerism and greed.

I'm going to keep singing my Christmas songs, thank you very much. 

Sorry about this, I know this didn't live up to my last blog post, which apparently was well-liked. My family home evening dad, Tyler (not to be confused with the other Tyler, who isn't in my FHE group but is still my father, according to our very screwed up family tree), went so far as to come up to my apartment to talk to me about my blog, and my feelings on various aspects of the BYU dating world. It made my day. Anyway, the Black Friday thing was bugging me all week, and I just needed to rant about it. I mean, there I am, just trying to watch my Friends marathon, and every ten minutes I had to endure crap like this:

Woman shopper to other woman shopper: "Look, it's Doris! She's a Black Friday living legend. She even named her kid 'Black Friday'." Garbage.

But it's all over now, and I actually had a fantastic Thanksgiving Break. I told everyone that I was going to sleep, eat, and watch TV, and that's exactly what I did. I would stay up all night watching Friends (my new obsession), sleep in until one in the afternoon, stumble upstairs, and eat some delicious meal prepared by my wonderful grandmother. It was the most relaxing and beautiful Thanksgiving Break I've ever had. 

The best part?

It's Christmas time now :)

Here's hoping that everyone has a flipping awesome Christmas season.

Love you!

Emily <3