daverea.com

You’re all sick. You know that? Messed up. Not right in the head. At least one burrito short of a combination platter.

Right now, it’s a shade after 6am. And while I’ve been up since 8am yesterday – yes, you read that correctly – you freakin people woke up two hours ago so you could get your place in line outside of Best Buy or Circuit City or Staples or Target by 6. And now those poor saps are opening the doors, and you’re all flooding in like a herd of cows. And you’ll spend the next ten hours pushing, shoving, gnawing and biting your way through the stores, around the aisles and to the registers. Tackle rival shoppers, beeline for the checkout counter, swipe credit card, repeat.

I think it’s funny, and a little sad. Sure, there are good deals on black Friday. Sure, you might save some money. And maybe that money in your bank account is worth the extra effort/frusteration/headache.

I prefer to sit back and watch from my little bubble. The bubble only I can see! I’ll laugh at you for being good little hoop-jumpers, collecting your rebate forms and counting your pennies. And I’ll weep for you for selling out to the commercialized secularized sterilized liberalized despiritualized thing that Christmas has become to our society. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still going to give gifts this Christmas, and Kelly and I do use it as an excuse to buy each other something special…

But we know that the line has to be drawn when the excitement and busy-ness and stress of “the season” start to crowd out what it’s really about: spending time with our families, celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the most important, influential, perfect person who ever lived. And, as we did this past Thanksgiving, praising and thanking God (yes, I used the G-word!) … ahem … thanking God for all the blessings we enjoy throughout the year.