And it’s just getting worse: almost every major retailer – from Target to Macy’s – will be open on Thanksgiving day, because everyone knows that profit is more valuable than family time.
Last year, I went Black Friday shopping for the first time, and I absolutely hated it.
Call me crazy, but getting up at the butt crack of dawn, waiting in a line that wrapped around a building just to get a doorbuster deal scratcher that ended up being only 10% off my purchase wasn’t my cup of tea. If it is, more power to you and bless you.
This year, I’m saying farewell to Black Friday. Here’s just some of my Black Friday agenda:
Sleep
Any weekday that I don’t need an alarm set for some ungodly hour, you bet your ass I’m going to take advantage of that.
Of course, I’ll most likely wake up at 6:30 am, which is sleeping in, but I’m the one making that decision and not the bedtime setting on my iPhone.
Relax
You know what’s beautiful about the holidays? Spending time with your family. You know what’s infuriating about the holidays? Spending time with your family.
If you Google “How to deal with family stress during the holidays,” you’ll get over 137 million results. Pretty sure more than one of those articles promotes the use of chemicals and alcohol to get through your cousin’s rant on why Trump is the greatest president or Roy Moore’s innocence.
You definitely deserve a break.
Get a massage that releases the knots caused by your grandmother citing Fox News as a legitimate source. Go to a yoga class and find your inner peace because you’ve more than likely left it on the dining table when your cousin started to discuss her MLM business success. Go to Starbucks, order the venti of your favorite drink, find an empty table, and count how many people flip their shit when the barista tells them that they’ve run out of pumpkin spice.
Trust me, it’s pure entertainment.
Play With Your Food
What’s Thanksgiving without leftovers? The worst Thanksgiving ever is the answer to that question.
Chances are you’re going to be having leftovers this Black Friday. Last year, I gave some ideas of what to do with that turkey and stuffing that went beyond “Put on microwavable plate, cover, and reheat at 1:30.” My new goal for my leftovers this Thanksgiving? This walnut-cranberry turkey salad from Food and Wine:
There’s only three steps to this whole recipe and because I’ll be coming off tryptophan, that’s just about my limit.
Netflix and Literally Chill
The Thanksgiving weekend typically belongs to football. But this year, it’s going to belong to your (or whoever you’re “borrowing” from) Netflix account.
Last week, Beth introduced us to the brilliance of Alias Grace and Mindhunter. Binged those already? Netflix debuted Michelle Dockery’s western Godless this week, which I’m pretty sure will be the subject of many group texts:
Shop Small Business Saturday
Look, we know that Target, Walmart, and any other store that has the financial resources to saturate your television with ads about how amazing their Black Friday sales are will be tearing a hole in many people’s back accounts or contributing to credit card debt this Friday.
But for every Target or Walmart that comes to a community, there are a number of local small businesses that cannot compete and are forced to close their doors.
This Saturday, make it a point to shop small and support your neighborhood retailers. Your small business purchase goes beyond you: it means more jobs in your community and a stronger local economy.
Does it mean better deals? Probably not, but the payoff for your community and the connections you make with local retailers are greater than any doorbuster deal in my book.
