O Christmas, where have you gone to?

What is it about Christmas time that sends shoppers into a panic induced frenzy? I realize how important reduced prices and one of a time offers are, but come on! Do you really need to be shoving people out of the way in order to get that one item off of the shelf?

I spent time with my best friend from home, Carrie, and her mom today before she left for the Thanksgiving break. Her mom had wanted to go shopping, which led us to The Christmas Tree Shoppe, which stocks little knickknacks, ornaments, potpourri, stockings, plates, and other unnecessary holiday items that everyone seems to go nuts over.

I will never understand The Christmas Tree Shoppe (which, granted, sells a lot of their products for low prices) and their way to draw large crowds of older women, moms, and dragged along fathers who get to push the stroller around through the narrow aisles. I couldn't even walk three feet without getting nudged in the side with a shopping cart or backing into a little old lady. I tried to get out of the way, which only put me in another moment of chaos. I clearly remember an old man saying to his wife, "Get what you want now because there is definitely no way we're coming back here."

It wasn't just that one store, either. Afterwards, we headed to the Crossgates Mall, where we were faced with yet another crowd, this one of the younger variety. The thing about the mall though, is that it's bigger than The Christmas Tree Shoppe, and it has many more incentives for customers to buy into. For instance, Santa sits waiting for children to sit in his lap in the middle of the mall. The aroma of pretzels, burgers, and Chinese food wafts from vendors and food courts. The stores have special offers that the people flock to, worse than The Christmas Tree Shoppe. Build A Bear's Workshop has now been transformed into Santa's Workshop. What kind of child can literally walk past that place without being enticed by that?

People wait in lines for this, and it will only get worse next Friday when everyone wakes up extra early to stand in the bitter cold for hours. When has it become necessary for people to wait in lines? Why should anyone who wakes up at eight o'clock instead of four not get the same opportunities for a sale?

Every year it seems, this same argument gets brought up. Why can't people just shop normally, like any other day of the year? This intense competition for some reduced item creates unnecessary (and possibly dangerous) situations. For instance, who can forget about the man who was trampled to death at the Long Island Wal-Mart by consumers who barged into the entrance. Was someone dying really worth that television for 40% off (this is not an actual calculated number, but I work at Justice, where there is constantly something for 40% off)? I think people need to take a real good look at what they're doing. Superficial items might buy your family love for that one day of the year, but the holidays are about more than that. Aren't they?