TheBanyanTree: Black Saturday

[Margaret R. Kramer]

I looked through the advertisements which came with the newspaper on
Thanksgiving and didn’t see one item that was worth me getting up at
midnight and stand in line for hours and then fight to get into the store
and buy the same item everyone else wants.  ‘

I couldn’t believe it when I watched the news and saw the traffic jams,
frozen people and then seeing them race into the stores like turkeys with
their heads cut off.  I know the economy is bad and everything, but is
buying something for $2.00 less really worth that kind of effort?

Well, I’m not a shopper by nature and our Christmas is going to be extremely
lean and mean this year, and Black Friday is not something I understand
anyway.

Everyone must have been shopping yesterday morning, because when I went to
the club, there were just a handful of people working out.  I was surprised,
because when I used to go to the suburban club, the day after Thanksgiving
was almost as bad as New Year’s Day.  Everyone wanted to work off their
Thanksgiving dinner.

After I got the blood pumping through my body, I was ready to string up
Christmas lights.  It was chilly, but I wanted to get them up, so I could
enjoy the rest of the weekend.  I sputtered a bit at the beginning, because
I couldn’t remember how I had everything last year, but then I got going and
got the lights up by noon.  Cross that huge item off the Christmas
preparation list.

After Ray came home from work, we drove out to Woodbury (a St. Paul suburb)
and picked up his new, old car.  It’s a 1993 Mercury Sable.  It cost $475.
Ray says it drives well, but I could tell that it needs shocks, as its rear
end was bobbing along as I followed Ray on the freeway home.  It’s a winter
beater; we’ll see how long it lasts.

We braved the stores late yesterday afternoon and I’ll you they were empty.
All the early morning shoppers must have gone home to take naps.  I had a
little grocery shopping to do and I wanted to pick up Christmas cards, so we
went to Super Target.  Very few people were there.  That’s unusual for
Friday, especially Black Friday.

I didn’t work on my novel yesterday.  My word count is 44,729 and I guess I’
m not worried that I’ll finish it.  It takes me about an hour and a half to
two hours to write 2,000 words, which is what I usually do per day, so
unless the earth ends tomorrow, I should finish by November 30.  I’m going
out of town this week for work, so “working on my novel” will give me a
perfect excuse not to have dinner with my coworkers a couple of nights.  The
group I’m going out with this time isn’t as fun as the people I traveled
with last year.  So any reason to get away from them is welcome.

What’s on the agenda for today?  Well, a little house clean up, a little
laundry, and I’ll fill up the birdfeeders and pick up the dog poop.  I’ll
pay bills.  I’ll take Shadow and Axel on a walk.  Then I’ll sit down and
work on my Great American Novel.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple
life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the
seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year.
~Ray Stannard Baker