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In article >,
says...
> Nancy Young wrote:
>
> >
> > There is *nothing* I can think of that could induce me to go stand in
> > line like that. Don't anyone get me wrong, I know they have good
> > sales and it's often a family tradition, but I am far too lazy to
> > go to those lengths. I'm just not a shopper. I go at dinnertime
> > closer to Christmas and it's not bad and everything is marked down.
> > 45 minutes, I'm done. Then, I don't buy for all but one person.
> >
>
> Damn it. It's the over commercialization of another traditional holiday. I
> hate it. It's bad enough that Christmas has been turned into an exercise in
> commercial and material indulgence. My whole family used to get together every
> year for Christmas Day at my parent's house. and kept it up for a few years
> after my father died. Two of my brother's live within 12 miles of my mother's
> house and one lives about 200 miles away. He was the only who had a long drive,
> so he and his family would stay for a day or two with my parents. That is no
> longer possible. She works in retail. She works her butt off for the 2-3 weeks
> leading up to Christmas, and then has to stay late on Christmas Eve to get
> ready for the Boxing Day sales, which also entail getting there early in the
> morning of the 26th. I can understand why she doesn't have the time or energy
> to drive 3 hours each way.

Surfing through my RSS feeds this morning I came across an article in
Louisiana where someone had squirted what is more likely epoxy than
super glue into the door locks of a local strip mall.

I think we're going to start seeing the backlash against the crass
consumerism so rampant today.

> It's amazing that so many people will run out on a holiday to scoop up all that
> merchandise that is left over from Christmas. If the stores stayed closed for
> the extra day to celebrate a special family holiday they could still sell all
> that stuff the next day. The only reason they have to open that day is because
> others are. It is unfortunate.

I haven't bought a single thing yet and I set a strict $200 each limit
on gifts the SO and I exchange. I refuse to drop more than $400
combined on any holiday.

Of course I can remember and have the pictures to show the wall of toys
behind me when I was a kid on one Christmas and I know it happened on
others. Thing is, my mom worked at a local retail outlet that gave steep
discounts to employees and so that is how I ended up with that wall. Had
they paid full retail I'd probably have gotten two or three toys.