Black Friday, Cyber Monday and The Hallelujah Chorus

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone.  The Christmas shopping season has officially begun and we are all off and running to the mall and to Amazon  to buy buy buy. There's a global recession and nobody has any money, but merchants are still selling and customers are still buying. Happy Holidays and deck the halls y'all.

What better way to mark the start of the annual consumer madness than with a Hallelujah Chorus Flash mob video at the mall.  I love the surprise on the faces of the sandwich munchers at the food mall-- puzzled at first and then trying to decide whether or not to stand up. And I'm not the only one. This video has had more than two million views in the last couple of days.

The only fly in the ointment is that analysts who track these things report that while shoppers were out in numbers on Black Friday, they were not buying or were buying very cautiously. Sales for Black Friday were up 0.3% while traffic was up 2.2% over last year. Perhaps the annual shopping binge is going to look a little different this year, but it is definitely taking place.

Oh yes-- it's official. The Christmas shopping season is definitely here. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.  Meanwhile, stand  up for the Hallelujah chorus and enjoy your burrito at the mall.