I never really understood the appeal of going shopping on Black Friday. I mean, I get that people enjoy getting holiday gifts for low prices, but the process of getting those deals seems like a nightmare to me.

Thanksgiving is legitimately one of the most relaxing holidays for me. I spend all day just shoveling food down my gullet, watching football and getting a lot of rest—the last thing I would want to do is either stay up all night, or wake up around 3 a.m. to stand in the blistering cold for hours with a bunch of other people just to get a deal and a head start on holiday shopping.

Also, the amount of violence that has taken place at malls on recent Black Fridays is ridiculous.

Hours after giving thanks for your family and all you have, people fight to get their hands on a discounted television.

It just seems like people’s worst colors show when they all are in a mad dash to get the biggest and best deal.

One of my cousins works at a Best Buy up in Connecticut, and the stories he has from working Black Friday are absurd. Seeing people getting trampled to get the last iPhone are among the experiences he’s relayed to me. Those not even the worst of it—people actually die doing this stuff. Since 2006 there have been a number of deaths and many more injuries. Could you imagine losing a family member to a Black Friday stampede? It’s just simply not worth it.

It seems like almost every Black Friday I say to myself how glad I am that I am not out battling for a deal. I feel awesome just relaxing and eating leftover turkey sandwiches and watching a bunch of TV, some of it covering how crazy people are on Black Friday. It’s nice to know that the madness that is Black Friday isn’t prevalent in Pearl River County.