I love facebook for the reasons that I can keep up with people in a busy time in all of our lives that I would otherwise never know anything about but lately it has been getting on my nerves.
I am going to jump off the subject for a second with an example of what I am talking about. There are all the time these status updates saying things like "Quit sending me Candy Crush request. I actually work for a living and don't have time like you to play". First off, I don't send request, the game automatically does that. Second, I do play....I play while setting for endless hours in the pediatricians office. I play while waiting in the car rider line to pick my kids up from school every single day. I play at night when I go to bed at 1:00 AM and still can't seem to fall asleep because I have my business on my brain. Believe it or not, I don't set around and play all day while you are out working hard. I work too. I run a business. I work at that business. I take my kids to school, pick them up, go to every Dr.'s visit with them, do homework with them, cook them meals, play with them, take them to sports and dance, clean my house (sometimes:), do all the laundry, give my husband some attention and at the end of every single night when you go to bed, I start working yet again in to the wee hours of the night on the business I love. So rest assured that I'm not chilling and playing Candy Crush all day while you have a life and I don't.
Now on to the real subject:) So many people have been posting on facebook lately about how awful people are for going Black Friday shopping. They say "you should be with your family" and "you are part of the problem". First off, I promise you that I don't miss a single family gathering on Thanksgiving to go Black Friday shopping. I even let others comments get to me so much on facebook that I felt like I needed to ask me husband yet again if it bothered him that I went shopping that night. He rolled his eyes and said he would be in bed, along with my children, so why did he care. Oh, OK! The internet just made it seem like I was doing something wrong....stupid internet.
Not all shoppers that go that night are these hardcore stampeding maniacs that you hear about on the news. In fact, if you have ever been you will know that most of the people going that night aren't like that at all. I can tell you I run in to more friendly people than I do crazy ones that night. We socialize with others in the long lines and by the time we checkout, we know a little about each other.Who knows, I may be the only conversation that person got to have in person that day.
I don't go that night to fight people, be mean, or to be a way from my family. I go that night b/c it is a good excuse to go shopping with my sister and two of my friends. I go that night b/c it is the only time the whole entire year that I do anything like that with my sister. We shop and maybe find a few good deals but we also go eat, talk and have time together. So to be honest, I am spending time with my family....my sister. My sister who has six kids and very little free time. My two friends that are so busy with their own lives, we don't get to see each other much but every year we know that we will at least get a kid free and peaceful meal together at the IHOP on Black Friday. In fact, if you take the time to speak to some of the people in the line around you while waiting to checkout, you will find that 90% of them are shopping with their mothers, sisters, grown children and aunts that they probably don't have much alone time with all year long except this one night. For a lot of people it is a tradition. It isn't that we have this evil plot to make people work on Thanksgiving. I can assure you that if I stayed home this year and didn't shop, Target will still open up at 8:00 PM on Thanksgiving and never miss my small purchase not one bit.
The moral of the story is stop judging people for what they do. Being rude about others decisions is not going to make you happy, it is just going to make you a grumpy pants. You have no idea why someone is going shopping. Maybe they really do have to go just to be able to afford that special gift for their child. Maybe they go for the reasons I do, time with people I care about without the children. Maybe they just want some adult time. Maybe they are just going to make you mad. No matter the reason, you know nothing about it. You choose to stay home....great! I'm not talking all horrible about you like you are the reason the economy sucks b/c you won't go shopping on Black Friday (slow your roll, I know that isn't the reason just like I know that I'm not the only reason stores are opening on Thanksgiving evening).
You enjoy your time doing whatever you are doing and I will enjoy my time with my sister and friends while shopping and eating without a kid needing me to help them blow their nose or watch them throw a fit in the middle of the store b/c I won't buy them anything. It is my peaceful time, believe it or not.
May you all have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving doing whatever you choose to do!
