(November 21, 2006) — Ah, holiday season. The Christmas trees and family fun, but most importantly…THE GIFTS! The stores have started stocking up on supplies and they’re not slowing down any time soon. I can certainly say that I have a pretty extensive wish list myself and boy oh boy have I been good, Santa. It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon and my family decides to go to Costco to stock up on the usual necessities. After spending fifteen minutes I finally found a vacant shopping cart and grabbed it before I lost my opportunity to seize the rolling metal device aiding me in shopping convenience. But as I walk in, BAM! I’m hit with what seems like a winter-wonderland. Did I just enter a magical black hole into the North Pole? Toys and Christmas lights…candy canes and colorful, decorative holiday wrapping paper…. nativity sets and Santa Claus popping up on every corner! So I stop and think to myself. Whoa! Was I in a different universe when Thanksgiving passed by? Did I miss out on the turkey and mouth-watering delightful pumpkin pie? It’s December already? After establishing the fact that it is in fact still the month of November, I decided to look around some more. I watched as people swarmed around like animals ready to pounce on gifts so that they could be the first to get their hands on them. People are aggressively pushing others out of the way to get to the goodies first. “I just have to have that Christmas tree shaped pillow…oh, and that life-size plastic gingerbread man too,” an excited woman exclaims enthusiastically. Honestly, what is this obsession with consumerism? Yes, these are the signs of Black Friday creeping into the holiday shopping season. It’s obvious that everyone goes a little kooky when it comes to holiday shopping. Honestly, who hasn’t splurged once or twice on something completely unnecessary for the heck of it? But this consumerist panic takes over every year and possesses people’s minds. We just finish up enjoying a pleasant Thanksgiving holiday and the next day we’re hit with all these sales and the sudden urge to buy anything even slightly interesting that we can find. It possesses people’s minds…Christmas goodies stocked up three months ahead of time. It’s brainwash…ahh! Consumerism isn’t necessarily a bad thing; that’s not what I’m trying to convey. Our economy is overjoyed every time Black Friday comes around. But honestly, I know people who are still working to pay off debts from gifts they bought last Christmas. Yes, the stores try to trick us with low prices and unimaginably adorable products, but people just go to extremes at these times. Getting rid of consumerism is not a solution and will never happen in the history of mankind. Life depends on economic turn around and Black Friday provides it ever so accommodatingly. All I’m saying is to not succumb to the shopping craze this holiday season because if you’re that person pushing me with your shopping cart in the stores, I just might snap. No, but seriously, enjoy the season and appreciate it for what it’s intended to be; a time for family bonding and holiday cheer, not who got the bigger, better gift. Happy shopping!