Christmas

Christmas begins earlier and earlier every year. They began setting up Home Depot and WalMart in the middle of October. The Halloween section was smaller than the Christmas section by October 20^th. I normally try to abstain. I’m the guy who won’t buy Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. I’m the guy who doesn’t believe in hearing Christmas carols until after Thanksgiving. I’m the type of guy who bought a Christmas tree this past weekend.

That’s right. We bought a Christmas Tree first weekend in November. I’m embarrassed. I’m mad at myself. I have a 9 foot, pre-lit Christmas tree. And I’m AWESOME.

Got a little off track there.

Anyway-

To make matters worse, we were planning on LOOKING for Christmas Trees, but we weren’t totally planning on BUYING a Christmas tree. So we take the Mrs.’ car and head to Hobby Lobby. All of their trees are 30% off. Too bad they start 60% higher to begin with. We went to Home Depot, and walked out with a 9 foot, 1800 tip, 1000 light Christmas Tree.

The wife’s car has a huge trunk. And the back seats fold down so you can fit large items in there. Problem was, the tree was long enough and wide enough that it wouldn’t go over the back seats. So not only did I buy a Christmas tree the first weekend in November, I was THAT guy driving down the road with the trunk open with something hanging out the back. And to make matters worse, I own an SUV. So there’s no reason that I should be THAT guy. But I was. And I am.

But I have a 9 foot Christmas tree. Did I mention that already?

New rant on Christmas:

Everyone knows what Black Friday is, right? The day after Thanksgiving. The worst day for Evan to leave his house. I don’t really like big crowds. My wife would tell you I hate large crowds. And large crowds of inconsiderate, me first people are my least favorite by far. And guess who is out en masse on Black Friday? Yeah, I know.

But this doesn’t have anything to do with those people. It has to do with WalMart. First, some background information. Click Here. Read that first. It’s kind of important to the rest of my rant.

Now, let’s say you worked in marketing (which I don’t). And let’s say that you had an event that you wanted a lot of people to come to (I do, but it has nothing to do with Black Friday…details soon). And let’s say you had an advertisement that you wanted a lot of people to see (which I don’t). And let’s say that your plan was to make money off of this even and therefore had spent a lot of money to print up advertisements for this event. Now why wouldn’t you want the most amount of people to see that advertisement? And would it matter if some people saw that advertisement before others? Does Walmart really care that their Black Friday ads are being seen before they want them to be seen? Doesn’t that, by definition, mean that they are working? People want to see what kind of deals you are going to have on the biggest shopping day of the year. And you are going to sue people who help them find that out? Doesn’t that seem odd? Is it going to change the way you market? Is it going to hurt your sales in some way? Are some people going to be offended that they didn’t get to see the ad first?

Again, I’ll admit, I’m not in advertising. I have no desire to be in advertising. I took ONE marketing class in college (great class, great prof, not the point). I paid attention pretty well, and not once did I hear mentioned that you should sue people who are helping your customers see your ads. I might’ve skipped that day, but I think that would’ve been on a test or something.

Anyway-

Christmas is fun. We love it, and we’re prepared. And no, I’m not leaving the house on Black Friday.