Gobble Gobble :D

Sure, the turkey is tradition and so is the ensuing drowsy nap after consuming so much food in one sitting... and in my case a good amount of wine and espresso where the espresso wins out, so i'm still hyper 6 hours before I need to head to work in the morning, oops.

While I'm headed to bed, a bunch of my family is at the moment running into the outlet mall for the midnight opening of Black Friday, haha. And that's just the beginning.... wait til the coordianted battle plans begin for the early morning doorbusters. Be thankful if you're standing in line tonight that they're not competing to get the same stuff ;-)

I found myself this year completely uninterested in the consumer rush. Don't get me wrong, I might be crazy to admit it but i enjoy shopping... when I'm with friends. Often I would walk out of a mall without anything for myself unless it was on my list or someone else helped me find it, haha :) But it's just a reminder of how i've changed in recent years, how very little I now care for material things. You can't take them with you, as they say... and I've spent more than enough precious time in my life focused on buying things for myself. Maybe I was just a lot more focused on my own material needs as opposed to those who just love the shopping season because it's an excuse to give others something :).

Even my little endeavors at buying and selling on ebay to help pay for expenses ( you don't get much money in hand as an RA :P) were efficient ways to make a few bucks... but in all reality it just sapped away time I could have used for things I really care about. I had made it an almost addicting habit of checking deal sites... I'm insanely good at finding deals on things now and managing my own finances, but where has that gotten me in life? It's a lot of time I could have been building on the relationships that matter. Now I've got a bunch of things sitting here in my room from this past year that I need to sell, and I have very little motivation to spend time on getting rid of them, haha.

You know, I could sit here and rant about our sadly consumeristic society, and mourn how the real focus of Christmas has been lost by so many, starting on this eve of the Christmas buying season. But you've all heard that before. This crazed flurry of coupons and credit cards does have some silver lining to it, tho. The shopping can bring people together for a little bonding time... in my case family who don't normally see each other much. It might be a natural instinct for some girls out there, lol, but it can be a rarity among guys. I might not have much interest in the black friday deals, feeling like i don't "need" anything, but I'd get to have some fun with them, and my xmas shopping would be done early for once! So I'm actually kinda bummed I have to work in the morning, when it'll be DEAD, cuz who comes to the grocery store the day after thanksgiving.

Maybe I'll ask every customer who walks in the door if they're lost, or if someone stole their leftovers.

I hope everyone reading this had the chance today to spend time with family and/or friends. Of course, we can't be in two places at once, which is often the trouble. I know I've spent a number of my own thanksgiving dinners away from home, but it's always good to give the ones you're away from a call to let them know you are grateful for the blessing they've been in your lives. It doesn't ever have to be on this one designated day of the year either.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)