Post-Thanksgiving (First official Christmas shopping weekend)

So, starting the night of Thanksgiving (what's up with that!??!) stores start their "Black Friday" sales. Black Friday....commercial-mas' favorite day. It's the day to put ultra chinzy stuff on deep discount in decent quantity and to give a deep discount on a FEW draw items (of decent quality) in LIMITED quantity, to entice customers in. This is to give people the IDEA that THEY could be one of the few lucky enough to get one of the rare, good quality items at dirt cheap prices. Which is good IF you can be that lucky, but for every 1 lucky person, there are plenty of unlucky people. When it comes to frugality, THIS is an awesome day. No doubt. Who wouldn't want to get Rocky Rocket for less than $10 when it is normally closer to $20, and your son is driving you CRAZY for it. It's the only thing he's asked Santa for Christmas. It's the ONLY thing on his Christmas list. He even mumbles about it in his sleep. So sure, you REALLY, R-E-A-L-L-Y want Rocky Rocket. The store only gets 6, and the sale starts at 5am. Is it worth getting up at 2am to be there at 3, to stand in line and wait and PRAY that those in line ahead of you don't get it first. And that's IF you have an organized store and kind and considerate fellow shoppers. This doesn't exist in the real world. I used to work this day. And I hate what Christmas has turned into. RARELY do you see the genuine Christmas "spirit". RARELY do you see people trying to help their fellow man or in this case "shopper". It's all elbows and grabbing and pulling and rushing and cursing....oh my goodness the cursing. Some of the nicest people you'll meet at any other time seem to be possessed during their Black Friday shopping spree. And I had decided that I was never going to participate in this ruckus. Dealing with the negativity and the hatefulness just isn't my bag of tea. Getting up so early in the morning, to stress about spending money, and to fight the crowd, only to not get the stuff that I had come for just doesn't seem worth it to me. So, how do I handle such purchases then, and manage to do things frugally. Well, I put money aside during the year and buy some gifts during the year, so I'm not hurting this time of year. I'm not against purchasing used books that are in good shape. I'm not against re-purposing some things for people. Which will require me to make some stuff, but really, that doesn't bother me. If my son HAD to have Rocky Rocket, I might give him less gifts to offset the cost of the toy he so desperately desired. And that's ok. That's how things go. And he has to realize that sometimes in order to get what you really want, you have to sacrifice some other things. The sooner that her learns that sort of fiscal responsibility, the better he'll be in the future when he makes his own purchases.

So this first week of Commercial-mas, we'll be doing business as usual. Except we'll be sending out our Christmas cards. We'll go to the grocery, pay bills, and continue about life like normal people. We do still have a few Christmas gifts to get/make and then they are all complete. The bulk of our Christmas gift getting/making is finished and was finished before Halloween.

I would rather spend this time unstressed and feeling joyful. For me, this is the season to spend with my family playing and enjoying each other and creating memories. And that's exactly how I'm going to spend it.

Thanksgiving Time

It is that time of year. The time where people get all grateful for what they do have and what they were able to get through. I think that gratitude should be something that you do every day, not just something that you do once a year. I think in turn it helps a person remain more humble, but it also keeps you in a more positive frame of mind. Which considering how stressful people make Christmas, maybe it is a good thing that Thanksgiving is right before.

Thanksgiving day is on Thursday, and we're not having it at my house this year. My sister-in-law wants to have it at her house this year. She did Thanksgiving and Christmas last year. We're splitting them this year. So we're going to have Christmas at our house. She is having a turkey and a ham and all the usual trimmings. And I'm looking forward to having a meal with everyone, my family and hers included. I miss the big family gatherings we used to have when my Gramma was still alive. But as with all families, unless they are all close throughout the year, when the Gramma passes away, holidays will be infinitely smaller. 

Lil Mr. V will be 2 next month. The time really is flying by so quickly. I'm still trying to figure how he could be 2 already.  I'm excited for his birthday and Christmas. Last Christmas, he could really care less about things, but this year, he'll be so excited and it'll be hard to keep him from tearing everything up. :) But I am so excited. I'm also happy that I've gotten almost all the shopping finished. Mr. V has to get his family and closest friends something, and I have to get my brother and his wife something. Which really, I'm making their present, so it's not so bad. I also have get my brother his birthday present.

Why do people choose to stress so hard over the holidays? Is perfection that important? For me, I'd rather spend the time with my family with a few gifts and decorations and a typical dinner than to break myself and my bank account for everything to be perfect. Just the other day, I received some junk mail from a loan company asking me to take out a loan for Christmas. Is that what this world has come to? Let's put ourselves in debt just so Jr can have better toys than his friends and that my house could be the prettiest on the block and that my dinner is bigger and better than whoever threw it last year. No thank you. I like knowing that Christmas will come and go and I'll be in the same position financially.

This is a rather random post. And for that I apologize. It's just what comes off the top of my head. I guess we need these purging sessions every now and again.