Black Friday (sales), Christmas and more moans.

November is traditionally our quiet time.  Wedding season runs all year for us, however we do less weddings in November. We try to make the most of this time.  We have photo-shoots, refits, we paint, we clean, we make everything look shiny and new.  Towards the end of November there is not so much to do.   Like everyone else we start thinking about Christmas, we put in some nice Christmas displays and make the shop all Christmassy and generally get ready for the festive season.

But what's this?  Retailers now have to slash their prices for one day only?  'Black Friday'  

I'm sorry but no.  Nope, nada.  We will not being doing that here.  And this is why.

The run up to Christmas should not be about how much money we can spend, how much stuff we can accumulate.  In my opinion Christmas should be about spending real quality time with those you love.  Yes you may buy gifts, but hey don't feel obliged!

The media tells us this is nonsense, we are bombarded with 24 hours of adverts, telling us what we should buy, how much we should buy and why we should buy it.   Non-sensical perfume adverts, gluttonous frozen foods and sickly alcohol adverts start in November.  TV programmes advising on what we should wear for Christmas, how we should cut our hair, how we should think, but most importantly on what we should buy!  Buy, spend, buy spend.

Sure if you want a break from all this expenditure you can hide until after Christmas.  Nope.  No you can't.  Here is the footage on the news of the housewife who left her family to fend for themselves over Christmas so she could stand (camp) in a line for two days, just to be first in line for the DFS Boxing day sale.

You get the idea.  Consumerism is out of hand.  'Black Friday' is just another example of the rampant disease that is in real danger of sucking any goodness from what should be a lovely time of year.

I know what you are thinking, this guy works in retail, surely he knows about margins, seasonal purchasing and all the other fluff retailers should know?    Well yes I do.  And I don't care.  Yes I could have a sale.  Yes I could take some extra money over Christmas.  In the short term this would seem great but Jack Bunneys is different.  We don't have to have a sale and we would rather not take extra money over the Christmas period, instead we will use this time to meet new clients for next year, we will clean, tidy, reorganise but most importantly we will spend (real-quality-time) time with our families.