The day after Thanksgiving has taken on a signficance in America that rivals the other 3 days that make up the holiday season. The newspapers are bulging with colorful and bold advertisement inserts proclaiming the year’s hottest sales and the most thrilling material indulgences. In past years this day may have been the official green light for the gift shopping marathon leading up to Christmas, but now it seems more like an irresistable siren’s song to call consumers in to crash on the aisles of things they don’t need to buy. The four to six weeks around Christmas time makes up most of the annual mercantile revunue for many companies, so they want to make it counts – with a great draw to shoppers. If you watch closely for the right deals and if you keep a little discipline on your shopping you will come out ahead with a lot of great stuff at great discounts. Of course you might even manage to find a few thoughtful gifts for others during your shopping, but don’t let it stop you from making a good haul for yourself. Just remember you have to beat out all of the other early birds to snag the limited inventory of advertised plump worms.

I happen to be visiting Las Vegas for Thanksgiving, and considering the explosive growth underway in the valley it is developing a thriving holiday consumer experience. All of the great national retail outlets are positioned in force throughout the city’s expanding borders, and the ocean of people in the barren desert were cast by the tidal forces of consumerism to flood into the stores. My cousins were ecstatic to find such great bargain listed in the ads, and after we slept in, we resolved to head out and claim our own conquests. Of course when we finally drew near to the strip malls and mega retailers we began to comprehend the magnitude of our competition. All of our deals had dried out and were left feeling like red blood cells being pushed through the veins of the great shopping beast. We felt lucky not to be trampled or to have any fender benders getting out of the parking lot. We’ll need to build up courage for the remaining 30 or so shopping days left before Christmas. But then there are always the After Christmas and After New Years sales ahead for us to skirish.