I am writing this column on Black Friday, from the safe confines of my office. I can look out my window and see droves of cars, probably headed to and from the shopping centers. Nope, I am home — no shopping for me today.OK, full disclosure: I confess that I went shopping last night (Thanksgiving night). The day before Thanksgiving, my nephew had announced that we needed to be finished with our turkey dinner by 6 p.m., so he and his girlfriend could go to Walmart for the special ìBlack Friday before Black Fridayî sale. How inane is that, I thought.However, I ignored my own sense of right and wrong, and joined the crowd! I left the Thanksgiving dishes, and dashed out to go shopping: Perhaps the sugar high from too much pie got to me. Anyway, my daughter Laura and I braved the cold and maneuvered the icy roads, and ended up at Walmart about 5:30 p.m.They let us in early; and even let us fill our carts, but we couldnít check out until the magic hour of 6 p.m. In my cart, I had four sets of good-quality sheets for $30 each, which relieved my guilt at being one of ìthem.îLaura and I then headed over to Sports Authority, where she bought a $300 Columbia ski jacket for $159. She is a teacher so a half-price bargain like that is worth never again being able to say, ìI would never go shopping on Thanksgiving evening.î To make it even more plausible that we might do this again next year, we didnít encounter crowds at either store, and we were home by 8:30.Shockingly, my husband, John, took time away from the televised football games to go to Macyís Thanksgiving night. He experienced a more typical Black Friday scene. Macyís was packed, and he had to drive in circles to find a parking spot. (According to a Nov. 27 article in the New York Daily News, 15,000 people stormed Macyís New York City flagship store Thanksgiving night.) Macyís had huckstered pieces of jewelry for sale that somehow caught Johnís eye amid the hordes of slick advertising pullouts we received Thanksgiving morning. However, the revved-up ad photo didnít match the jewelry on display. John left empty handed and unenthused about ìBlack Friday on Thursdayî bargains.Who thought of Black Friday, anyway? The term ìBlack Fridayî started in 1951, and stemmed from the vast number of workers calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving so they could have a four-day vacation. By 1961, the Philadelphia police used the term ìBlack Fridayî to describe the chaos and traffic jams created by the swarms of shoppers heading to the cityís downtown stores on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving. Now, of course, itís all about sales, competition among stores and humans — check out the in-store brawls captured on cell phones and sent to You Tube.At best, Black Friday has become confusing. Besides Black Friday sales taking place on Thanksgiving evenings, we now have Black Friday sales extending to Saturdays and Sundays, and some BF sales taking place on Cyber Monday, just to keep up with the online stores. But the online stores are now advertising Black Friday sales a week before Thanksgiving, before they start touting their Cyber Monday sales. I hope Thanksgiving never becomes blacked-out by all these Black Fridays. But some stores did open Thanksgiving morning to get a jump on their Black Friday specials. It could just be a matter of time before Black Friday hits the streets the same day as the trick or treaters. Make way for Black Friday Halloween!Anyway, the season of manic shopping is here. While you are out there or not, keep cool thinking about your real reason for the season, whether itís family, friends, Jesus, Buddha, old movies, good wine, or Fido and Garfield. We, at the NFH wish you, our columnists, our readers, our advertisers — all of our supporters — a wonderful holiday season! Please be safe! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We will see you in January, with our annual health care issue.– MichelleP.S. While you are shopping, think local!
