Oh Goody. >_<
Next year, will Santa come after July 4?

I absolutely despise the Christmas Season. It exemplifies exactly what is wrong with our society - the need for material possessions and personal greed. I'm not a Christian, but isn't Christmas supposed to be about being awesome to your fellow men, not getting the New Super Improved Vacu-Mop with 18 attachments for a rock bottom price call now before this offer expires!!?

I hate christmas.

@Oranges w/ Cheese:

I am a Christian, but I too have come to loathe the "Christmas Season" as defined by the gods of commerce and materialism. About 10 years ago I was given a lovely pamphlet by a very thoughtful RC priest about the true spirit of Advent (the original Christmas Season before merchandising took over), and I've used it as a guideline ever since. Yes, GIVING -- and not so much gifts, but of yourself -- is at the crux of Christmas. (no pun intended!)

I wouldn't be joking too much about that Santa/July 4 thing. 8-) It may come to pass in our lifetime. Be afraid.

Vote with your wallet, don't buy on the "wrong" black friday!

@theblackdog: I don't know how much I like this "Black Friday Season." I'm wondering what will happen to most of the really good deals (like $400 laptops and TVs).

Fucking Black Friday creep.

The phrase Black Friday refers to the day that retailers plan to move from losing money (Red Ink) to making their profit for the year (Black Ink). This is always tied to the day after Thanksgiving with the thought that Christmas sales will "save" the year and has nothing to do with discounted loss leaders, discounts & the like.

@Moosehawk: This nonsense is really, REALLY starting to get out of hand.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I know a few folks who work retail, and one of them HATES Christmas because people can be such "two-faced *******s" in that they would be rude to her if they're not at the center of her universe, but give these gifts with a smiling face.

I followed Black Friday back when I was in high school, but the stuff on sale tend to be pretty crummy anyway and I can buy them online for a little bit more than the price anytime during the year.

@ElizabethD: Eventually I think we'll have 3 holidays in this country. Christmas "Season", Valentines Day, and 9/11 day.
No offense meant to those who were personally affected, but I think 9/11 is the single most blown out of proportion event in US history.

@philipbarrett: Its been at least 5 years since any christmas shopping has "saved" retail's numbers. Maybe if they offered quality product instead of shoving crap quantity down our throat they'd turn a profit.

This year, I actually was considering standing in a line like a tool/d***hebag for a deal on a TV, IF I saw one that was worth it. If they spread the deals out, then maybe I won't have to camp in my Star Warsâ„¢ tent, sipping Starbucksâ„¢ to keep warm in my J-Crewâ„¢ Parka.

Fist-oâ„¢

Yay for discounted junk for a whole month. Instead of buying stuff on one day and then having to return it because you figured out it's junk, you get a whole month to do this wonderful song and dance. Buy and return. That's what Christmas is all about. Good times, good times.

@philipbarrett: But that makes referring to it as a 'season' even more weird. A season of discounts is one thing but a season of 'one day in the next two months we'll be in the black' is just odd.

I agree with the materialism problem, but just looking at it from a deal perspective...

Black Friday can be great for deals, but only if one plans ahead and really knows the value of the sale items. The idea that retailers "drastically cut their prices" is mostly untrue, at least regarding technology. Black Friday is basically a giant one-day clearance sale for old tech. The vast majority of the really good deals are on old stock about to be discontinued (or already discontinued in many case), to make room for new versions to sell for the actual Christmas rush. That's fine for many, who are willing to buy 2007 (or 2006) versions, but many think they're getting a better deal than they are. Just like at wholesale club stores, you're usually paying full price for stuff that's cheap for a reason.

I won't even go into the giant mass of FAR crap (which people usually end up paying for because they don't send their rebates in, or get rebates denied for), or the bizarre, off-brand junk that gets thrown on the showroom floor just for Black Friday, that you never see again (until the next Black Friday).

@Fist-o: TV prices are supposedly set to drop even before the traditional 'Black Friday'...at least according to this guy.
[bits.blogs.nytimes.com]

I wanted a laser DLP, but $6K is way too steep, especially when the LED DLP (61") has snuck under $2K.

I need a TV that actually gets digital so this might actually work out well for me. I don't have cable, just rabbit ears, and while I could get a converter, I really do need a new TV since mine is small and it'd be nice to watch movies on something other than my laptop.

SO LET US HOPE FOR DIRT CHEAP TVS!

The reason retailers keep doing this from year to year is because consumers buy into it. People speak with their dollars and obviously, their dollars are saying "We want sales on scummy crap before Thanksgiving when we have more time to shop." As a retail worker, one thing I have noticed is the actual Christmas (Holiday, whatev) signage and decor has been pushed back a little, for if you bring it out too early the customers tend to think that all the product is the same and will reduce the amount of times they go into the store to check on new product. A successful thing I saw a company do last year was to do all the "Door Buster" type deals in the weeks leading up to Black Friday with the grand daddy of all deals happening on Friday. After that, it was weekly sales as usual with a focus on NEW! items to keep the store fresh when before it may have had a tendency to look picked over.

Eh, BF sales and specials have been meh-tacular the past 2-3 years or so; hell even hopping online around 5am doesn't guarantee a great deal anymore.

I'm one of those masochists that brave the 'mauls' ;-) that fateful day after Thanksgiving, my soul weeping during my annual sojourns. (Sigh) I'm of course morbidly curious about the shopping season starting early and on Halloween. Somehow it fits.

I'm not even a Christian and I love the Christmas. I have a lovely pink and cream Victorian themed tree and I freaking love presents. Call me materialistic, but obviously a good many people are, otherwise these things wouldn't happen.

If you think Christmas is evil, wrong, materialistic, a waste of money, etc... then don't celebrate it. If you're buying into it thinking its any of the above, then you're obviously getting something else out of it that makes it worth it to you. Either that, or you're a hypocritical idiot. In any case, send me presents. I even like gift cards!

Here's an interesting read: [en.wikipedia.org])

@Ein2015: ARG the link-maker mangled my link! (*eyes Ben*)

Here. I'll do it manually.

Oh good. Now I get to hide from everyone for an extra month, lest I be stampeded by overweight housewives fighting over Hannah Montana toasters.

@Ein2015: What annoys me are the self-righteous idiots who tell you that they're above that sort of thing.

I'm in NC where it is usually still warm so right now we have displays of clearance bathing suits next to Christmas trees! They even had Aretha Franklin singing a Christmas song on tv yesterday....

@Luckie: I don't celebrate it. I've ACTIVELY tried to avoid it for the past two years as a little experiment to people who say "don't celebrate it", and it cannot be done. It cannot be avoided. It is literally everywhere. It's ridiculous.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I understand your position with the respect to Christmas and Velentines Day, however I fail see how 9/11 relates to the other holidays or even to the point of there being a "season" with relation to a holiday in which to feed consumerism. Have you (or anyone) been subjected to 9/11 conusmer campaigns?

(My personal view is that 9/11 as a holiday will go the way of memorial/independence/veteran's day, if it becomes a major holiday at all)

@Oranges w/ Cheese: As long as parents continue to try and make up for a year's of bad parenting or non-parenting in some cases by delivering the latest, hottest toy from Santa on Xmas morning this behavior will continue and only get worse as the years continue. You can get the same deals that you would get on BF during the year by just looking around online. The only thing we can do is try our best not to buy into it too much, and if you give a gift, give it from the heart and not a random item you picked out at Walmart just to satisfy your gift-giving obligations.

Maybe they will actually have some deals on the things I needed to pick up anyway on Friday?
I am so over Christmas. Now I have two months of avoiding everything and everyone. Spiffy.

@h3llc4t:

Yeah, you gotta watch out for those fat housewives. Just one more plague of the Christmas retail season.

This is the Creepiest Creep I've ever Creeped, but...well? Who doesn't like an extra month of sales?

Watch for my Black Friday Specials for Christmas 2010 this December 26th!

So, one question remains in my mind. If "Black Friday," is being transmogrified into a season, does that mean that we are going to start having to call it "Black Season?" Does that mean that we will soon start hearing songs at retail stores like "I've been dreaming of a Black Christmas"-- especially since we have been regaled for quite some time with that "White Christmas Song?"

Just wondering.

(Ignore any racial connotations that the terms Black and White may have. I don't mean it like that.)

Cheers!

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I think that as long as you don't get bent out of shape, and take things with stride and perspective, even the less religious and more materialistic traditions of the Christmas season can provide happiness. I enjoy finding and giving things that surprise and delight friends and family. I enjoy getting things that I wouldn't or couldn't have bought myself.

I'm no longer religious (grew up Catholic), but I still enjoy Christmas. I recall reading somewhere-- and perhaps I'm mistaken, as it was a while ago-- that the true "meaning of Christmas", before the Christian celebration, or even the pagan traditions, stemmed from "It's the dead of winter. It's cold, things don't grow, and we have to stay inside all the time. Let's have a holiday." I think that's a tradition that anyone living in a temperate climate can get behind.

I love Christmas, and not for the materialism. I think it's special, and it's a nice time of year. I grew up not really having much of a Christmas, since my family immigrated from another country, and it took a while to establish Christmas and Thanksgiving in our house.

But I love Christmas very much, and I'm all for deals because it's a tough year for a lot of people. Financially, I'm fine, but one would have to be an idiot to say they don't want a deal on something they'll buy for someone for Christmas. I know if my dad wants a bunch of movies, I'd be looking for the best deal anyway. If that means Black Friday prices will help me save money, it benefits me and the store.

And Black Friday prices don't necessarily mean Black Friday lines. Chances are, even if the prices are Black Friday, there won't be official declaration that after Halloween will be a Black Season of lines.

I think the stores will gradually roll out their promotions, and you can take a gamble and think the sale is better than it will be closer toward Christmas but it's a good way of getting your Christmas shopping done while lowering your likelihood of paying full price.

@FLEB: In the far north. :) In the ancient near east, where the Christian holiday originated, it's not that cold in December. :)

@Eyebrows McGee: It can get pretty chilly! Not New England cold (and actually not even NJ cold) but I've been in Bethlehem in December and there are some times you might feel like putting a coat on. And Nazareth is rainy! Plus, once you get used to triple-digit heat, anything below 50 feels frigid.

@nidolke: Absolutely. Last year, I thought I was safe since I generally don't go into malls and retail shops.... but then, at an airport where I had to wait for several hours, there was a Santa roaming around who admonished me for not wanting to have a photo taken with him.

@SinisterMatt: It's a retail term so it won't effect Christmas songs but I also wondered if they'd change it from Black Friday to Black Season. I don't think they will because Black Season isn't catchy.

@little stripes:
I bought my digital TV already. If they are dirt cheap I'm going to cry. I didn't want to wait because I figured people would go nuts and the stores would be empty.

If I could have got my 37" widescreen for less, I guess I could have waited, but there's no way to know what will happen.

So let me carve my pumpkin already!!! Stupid Christmas Creep!

I think I should carve a Santa pumpkin. :)

@dragonfire81: Yeah. I went to the grocery store today (Kroger) and they were playing Christmas-themed instrumental music in the store, complete with jingle-bell sound effects. On October 28th.

@Eyebrows McGee: The holiday originated as a means to convert pagans. FLEB is exactly right. The holiday was celebrated on the shortest day of the year, when night was the longest, and therefore the cold would probably last longer. They didn't have anything to do, so they had a festival. Jesus was probably born in the spring, but no one really has any clue when he was born. There is not really any certifiable evidence that he even lived.

It really is getting crazy. I was at Target on Monday and they already had Halloween stuff on clearance! Christmas is great and all, but I don't want it to last three months!

I guess some people get their jollies by spending hours waiting in line to save a few hundred dollars, meanwhile spending thousands of dollars that they can't afford on credit cards they won't be able to pay off.

As for me, I'd rather shop around for a fair price on an item I want with the features I want, and save up in order to pay for it.

[It's been well-documented that retailers use Black Friday to clear their inventories of outdated merchandise; you're not going to see this year's LCD TV's on clearance, they're from last year and won't have the latest features.]

Even if I use a credit card to purchase it (rewards points are cool, right?), I know that I have funds already in my checking account to pay my credit card bill in full at the end of the month.

@nidolke @oneandone: Just because you see
Santas and fake snow all over the place doesn't mean you have to actively do anything related to it. Refusing to celebrate isn't the same thing as managing to avoid. I would agree that you can't avoid it, but you do have the choice not to buy/accept presents and decorations and all that.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: Eh, Christmas day is one day when many families get together and actually act like families -- same with Thanksgiving. The problem isn't with the Christmas season or the holiday, or anything, it's that for the rest of the year, there is none of that... so even holding onto that vestige of cheer and good will, even if it generally stems from getting a bunch of crap, is better than nothing. I like to think of Christmas like I do birthdays, if you think of it just as any other day, except people are generally a little bit nicer to you -- for really no particular reason -- then that makes it a pretty good day by and large.

Christmas came so early this year, I gave my family gifts five months in advance!

Yeah, right.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I agree very much with the second part of your statement. In fact, I'd think that most people who have to deal with the TSA would agree.

What a coincidence. My workplace (I work at a PX mall) started putting up christmas decorations already. As long as they don't start playing christmas songs on the speakers, I'm happy.