As you can tell, I am not a habitual blogger. Hence my long absences from this page. But judging by the not-so-vast readership, I'm thinking this is not too big of a deal. So I will just write a short note on this post-Thanksgiving day morning. It is 11:19 a.m. on Black Friday. Which means there are some retail business employees that have now been standing on their feet at work for the last 7+ hours. And, there are shoppers who have been doing the same. I, on the other hand, got up just over 1 hour ago after having a lovely Thanksgiving Day with my family. Hot coffee and a bit of leftover corn bread w/ Marionberry jam and Marscapone cheese is the only thing on my plate (literally and figuratively) this morning. Since it is cold and rainy outside, I'm thinking I got the better end of the bargain. Maybe I didn't save up to 50% off of all the stuff I will buy in the next four weeks. Maybe I won't get to sit around and gloat for the next month saying, "Oh, I finished my shopping a long time ago." But really, I couldn't care less. If the holiday season can't be enjoyed throughout the next four weeks by doing a bit of shopping here and there, fighting a couple healthy mall crowds, and enjoying a quick coffee in a crowded Starbucks with 2 dozen other "late" Christmas shoppers, then what fun do we get? If it's just a race to see who can get done first, then let's do this. Thursday - Thanksgiving. Friday, Black Friday - everyone finishes there shopping. Saturday, Christmas Day. It's so easy! We'll just get it all over with right away. No more bothering with decorating trees, listening to Xmas music, getting together with friends and family. In fact, why even bother celebrating the birth of Christ? It didn't even happen in December! We'll just plow through it and move on. Yep, sounds like a fiscally responsible and time sensitive way to enjoy the holiday. Sorry, I have to say to all you 4 am Black Friday bargain hunters, enjoy your accomplishment of being 'done'. Instead, I will simply enjoy the whole Christmas season.