If you’re reading this, you have recovered from your Black Friday weekend shopping frenzy enough to let the coffee force your eyelids open to behold your Sunday breakfast of leftover sweet potato casserole (or are those carrots?) as you contemplate which sofa in the house will give you the fastest Internet access for your Cyber Monday deal pursuits.
Or you don’t much care about Thanksgiving sales, Black Friday deals, post-Thanksgiving clearances or Cyber Monday e-deals.
I might be the Bargain Advocate, but in general I find myself siding with the latter, mostly because I enjoy sleeping in and not being in large crowds (though this year, I may have been able to gain extra sympathy by being six months pregnant — emphasis on the “may”).
I thought about leaving you with some tips today to help you navigate Cyber Monday, but I think I did that in 2011, and you can find it with a simple Google search. (And if you’re planning on celebrating Cyber Monday, I shouldn’t need to explain to you what a Google search is).
So instead, I’m going to get contemplative.
Even though Thanksgiving is over, we’re entering the season of deals, deals and more deals; of shopping lists and budget stress and parties and planning and general mayhem. So to encourage you, whether or not you’re a dealseeker, to take a moment to slow down and enjoy the season, I wrote you a little something.
Enjoy, and please note that I’m not a historian and therefore claim immunity from any complaints about historical technicalities I might have botched. Just try to enjoy the spirit of the verse.
An Ode to Earlier Holiday Seasons
Were pilgrims thinking to themselves as they crossed the Atlantic waters
About the corn husk dolls they’d buy at trading posts for sons and daughters?
Did they get their Thanksgiving deals aboard the Mayflower via gull?
Or were they so sick of being on board they didn’t much care at all?
And when they stepped upon the shore of the country we inhabit,
Did they price-match for the lowest cost on a pair of fat jackrabbits?
It seems that, hundreds of years ago, when Brewster & Company landed,
There were quite a few things we now have they couldn’t take for granted:
Like health and wealth and food to eat and coats to warm our backs,
Or big-box stores with goodies piled to the ceiling racks.
When they celebrated that first Christmas, did they prepare for weeks?
Did the town crier announce the deals on turkeys, corn and leeks?
Did parents go to Cabin Depot with Edward and Constance in tow,
To find the year’s best tools and toys to tie up with a bow?
I’m no history expert, so I’ll give my best guess:
(You fill in the blanks to determine all the rest.)
That first holiday season on our country’s hallowed shores
Was probably filled with trials and a lion’s share of chores.
No iPads, smartphones, laptops or even HDTVs,
Just family, friends and hope they found by getting on their knees
And thanking their Creator for the freedom they had found;
A season of reflection on the blessings that abound.
So this year as you formulate your present-shopping plot
Be sure to take a moment to be thankful for what you’ve got.
If you have questions about a money-saving topic, ideas for future columns or tips to share, email me at amroy@ mncogannett.com.
Happy saving,
Abbey
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