Going Head to Head with the CCC

Well, I managed to ignore "Black Friday" and "Cyber-Monday" almost squeaked by without my notice but there was just too good a deal to pass up. So despite my resolve to not get caught up in what I call the Crazy Collective Consumerism. (The same phenomenon responsible for increasing the sale price of the new X-Box 360 to $700.00 and above on Ebay. The same CCC that caused people to trample one another for a Tickle Me Elmo a few years back. Seems insane now, but that is what the CCC will do to you. I did place one, only one (maybe two)internet orders last Monday. Okay so I never said I was perfect. At least I didn't do it at work.


Now I do plan to spend a quite morning doing my Christmas shopping on the internet. Armed with a handful of mail order catalogues that have populated my house like bunnyrabbits in the past few months, a mug of coffee and some quite Christmas music, I will shop to my hearts content, carefully scouting out the coupon codes at places like currentcodes.com taking full advantage of free shipping and all of the the other courting techniques the various companies use to get MY business. But I don't do stores. Maybe it is my Enochlophobia (fear of crowds) or my Visaphobia (fear of credit cards) but I know that if you put me in a mall in the middle of December I will frantically grab things off the shelves and buy stuff I don't need or don't want to just to get out of there! JUST PLEASE LET ME OUT OF THERE, I"LL BUY WHATEVER YOU WANT ME TO. That is me frame of mind in crowded shopping mall in December.
I am not a romantic City sidewalks, Busy sidewalks kind of gal. No in fact I wrote my own song to that tune.
This is what goes through my head as contemplate Christmas shopping. (shiver)

City sidewalks, Busy sidewalks
Clutch your purse to your side
In the air there's a feeling
Of mischief

People pushing
People shoving
Try to calm down and smile
And on every street corner
You'll hear

Buy from me, Buy from me
It's Christmas time in the city
Cha-ching, cha-ching
Cashbox's ring
Soon it will be
Time to pay

Strings of streetlights
Even stop lights
serve to make you insane
As the shoppers rush home with their
Treasures

Here the numbers crunch,
See the shoppers bunch
This is WallStreets big scene
And above all this bustle you'll hear

Buy from me, Buy from me
It's Christmas time in the city
Cha-ching Cha-ching
Cashbox's ring
Soon it will be time to pay.

So by internet shopping I just turn it off when it gets to be too much. I can do it in spurts in a very relaxed manner and I find I spend more rationally and carefully when not so stressed.
So Cyber Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday Friday. It doesn't matter to me. I don't have to freeze my fingers off standing outside in the cold at 2:00 am to be the first one in the door by 5:00 a.m. Or fight with a dear little old lady for a parking spot. I wouldn't actually do that. Or would I? The seasonal shopping frenzy has been known to produce some pretty odd behavior in normally rational people. And I won't try to maneuver a shopping cart in a store that is crammed with stuff and people trying not to knock anything or anyone over.

No when it comes to holiday shopping, you know where to find this homebody, cozying up to my computer and letting the deals come right to me.