1. attempted to buy flowers at a big, crowded grocery store
2. bought flowers at a smaller, less crowded grocery store
3. helped at a holiday blood drive
4. drove around the emtpy streets on Thanksgiving morning
5. watched Justin wait until 2 a.m. to see what kinds of Black Friday deals would be posted on Amazon.com
While the first three on the list were free, or fairly cheap ($7 for flowers--too bad I don't have a flower garden), the one that made me feel the most holiday spirit was number 4.There is something nice about an almost empty street on a Thursday morning. Compared to typical weekdays--people on their way to work, lots of traffic, everyone mad--this was special and refreshing, and free.
The blood drive was a little less spirited than I'd thought it would be. But it was still good to see people up at 7 in the morning, donating blood for this particular reason- Thanksgiving. And I got to listen to people's Thanksgiving day plans, which usually led to also hearing about their crazy families.
Hanging out with Justin while he scoped out the Black Friday sales online actually brought a little bit of holiday spirit. He didn't buy anything, and neither did I, but simply watching everything go down on this momentous day is always a little exciting. On the other hand, a Walmart worker in Long Island was killed in a rampage. Maybe it's a little too crazy. I might have to re-adjust the graph.
**Initially, I put this mark fairly high on the "spirit" level, but Justin just told me that two people got shot at a Toys R Us today! So now it's on the bottom.
What did I learn?
-Being around people is free, and makes me feel celebratory.
-The best grocery store to go to the day before Thanksgiving, is probably the smaller one in the part of town where no one lives.
-Unusual circumstances that the holidays bring (empty streets) are nice, and free as well.
-As long as Black Friday remains a spectacle (where no one is killed), it is slightly enjoyable to simply observe the madness.
