It was the hair metal band Cinderella who put it best in their song, “Don’t Know What You Got (‘Till It’s Gone)” when they sang, well, “don’t know what you got, ‘till it’s gone.” Not only is it one of the rare cases in hair metal when the song title matched the actual theme (for instance, “Cherry Pie” by Warrant is most decidedly not about cherry pie) but it’s also a lyric that can be transposed over to just about anything. And you know what I didn’t know I had until it was gone? Black Friday. Now, as you might imagine being that I’m A) male and B) a born curmudgeon, I used to hate Black Friday. The crowds, the crowds, the crowds, and not least of all, the crowds. What a miserable experience. Today? Black Friday, to the best of my knowledge, started like 45 days ago. Every day in my email I am being blasted with “early” Black Friday deals. No joke: I was looking at my Gmail account from this past Monday, and I had 65 different “Black Friday” emails — and not in spam, and all of them were hyping the current deals, not the ones happening Friday. So yes. Black Friday just ain’t what it used to be. Remember the old days, either pre-Internet or in that weird time when the Internet existed, but the idea of putting your financial information online was about as attractive as getting your toenails pulled out through your eyeballs? Oh man, Black Friday would roll in back then and you would legit be excited. Again, not for the crowds, but for the deals. There were really good deals on Black Friday, deals that would come around once a year. And remember the size of the newspaper that day? It was our version of “War and Peace.” Just stuffed with circulars. Today, though, you don’t need to wait to Black Friday. There’s Prime Day all the time, but even that has lost its luster. Bottom line, every retailer is always running some kind of crazy sale these days. Black Friday has become just another day on the calendar, far as I can see. And you know what else I miss? Yep. The crowds. Black Friday used to be the official start of Christmas season, which now starts immediately after Labor Day. Back then — you know, like 15 years ago — you’d head to the mall, park in the far reaches of the JCPenney parking lot (which is how you knew it was Black Friday, because you can normally park in the first five spots at JCPenney) and then you’d walk in the mall and … … and the Christmas music would be playing, Santa was there for the first time, people are jostling and carrying around the giant bags from Macy’s, everyone is … well, festive. That’s the word. This year, sure, the mall will be crowded, but not like it used to be. Santa has been there for weeks. I’ve already heard “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses a half-dozen times. You can practically feel the Valentine’s Day merch straining at the walls. Yeah, Black Friday ain’t the same. I’ll be doing my ordering online again this year. Merry Christmas, merry Christmas, but I think I’ll skip this (Black Friday) this year.