BLACK FRIDAY RITUAL

By Michelle Singletary

You are going to do it.

Well, many of you, anyway.

Others will do it because it’s a tradition. And even more will do it because they think that if they don’t, they’ll lose out on good deals.

Rest assured, millions of people will gather their wallets and purses to do some serious shopping starting Thanksgiving Day and on through the weekend until Cyber Monday.

To be specific, an estimated 135.8 million consumers say they will or may shop during this traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. Of those who plan to shop online or in a store, most will go looking for deals on Black Friday.

American Express hopes many will shop on “Small Business Saturday.” The shop-small campaign was started to encourage folks to patronize small and local businesses.

“The importance of Thanksgiving weekend to both retailers and consumers will never change,” said Matthew Shay, NRF president and chief executive.

I don't doubt that statement at all.

But my family and I won’t be going anywhere near a retail store — whether brick-and-mortar or online. We’re planning to enjoy the holiday weekend playing games and eating lots of leftovers.

Still, because I can’t talk you out of spending money many of you should probably be saving or using to pay off debt, I thought you might like to see some clever tweets about Black Friday that are responses to a trending hashtag: #BlackFridayIn3Words.

Here's a few:

●“Jingle Bell Broke.”

●“More Pie Please!” ’Cuz I ain’t participating in that craziness.

●“Crazy consumer consumption.”

●“Just keep sleeping.”

●“No more stuff.”

●“Nah, I’m good.”

●“Don’t get trampled.”

●“Be with family.”