P. Sunshine

P. Sunshine
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Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Ahh, the Thanksgiving holiday is fast approaching, and with it, the usual anxieties of squeezing in a last minute jaunt to the grocery store for missing ingredients, praying that the weather man is wrong in reporting 3-6 inches of snow, and my biggest fear, the after-Thanksgiving sales!!!!

I am so relieved that someone out there had the intelligence to think of Buy Nothing Day, so I now have an excuse when people ask me why, oh why, am I not going out and taking advantage of the oh-so faaaaabulous sales? I simply look at them blankly and say "It's Buy Nothing Day, so I will Buy nothing." As my mom pointed out last night while we were shopping for her birthday gift, the stores jack up the prices and then hold a 1/2 off sale, to trick the consumer into thinking they scored a deal, and then the consumer will think they are saving so much money, that - hey! they can buy MORE then they set out to. Then when they get to the cash register, and see the enormous bill they have accumulated, and the line is so freaking long, and people are impatient, and babies are crying,and mothers are yelling, the consumer gets sucked into actually paying for all the merchandise rather than holding up the line and therefore causing great distress within the store. I've seen it happen, I used to participate.

The problem with Buy Nothing Day is that every dang year SOMETHING happens so that I am forced to go out into the craziness. Either someone gets sick and needs some medicine, or we run out of milk, diapers, toilet paper, or what have you, and I end up caving, and of course, once I get to the store that has said necessary item, I get trapped into the claws of the evil advertisements and end up buying some really cute or seemingly marked-down gotta-have-it Christmas gift. It never fails.

This year, I will do a meditation to protect myself against the treacherous "Day After Thanksgiving Sales". I will repeat the mantra 'You will remain strong, you have willpower, you will stay inside, you have plenty of time to shop for gifts, not today, not today". I will repeat this over and over, and if lovely husband tries to interfere, I will only repeat it louder and with more vigor. I will play the System of a Down song all day, the one that goes:"Therapy, Therapy, advertising causes me therapy" I will stay away from all windows and doors, and not look at what large, beautiful packages the neighbors are carting into their homes. I will take a stand, and I will prevail!

2 comments:

patti said...

At least I POST, parchment!!!

Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Patti!

I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet so I will most likely (eeps!) go tomorrow. I usually get the best deals with toys.

Marie (girlfactor)