'Tis the season...

It’s the holiday season again and we all know what that means: Christmas trees, family gatherings and gift exchanges.

But unfortunately it also means crowded malls, frantic shoppers and empty sales racks; which add up to be a slightly frightening combination.

On “Black Friday“ (the day after Thanksgiving), the Westfield Solano Mall in Fairfield, Calif. was overcrowded and loud.

Around noon, patrons sported looks of excitement and panic as they hurried from store to store. But the most common look was one of fatigue, since shoppers arrived early for the sales. Some people had even been there since 2 a.m. to get a head-start on the stores that opened at 4 a.m.

“I’m going crazy right now,” said Tonmar Johnson, a shopper and father of two. “I got here around two because I knew the stores were going to be crowded, but I just had to get all the presents from my children’s ‘Wish List.’”

He looked both tired and determined as he walked away with his shopping list in-hand to join the many others whom had similar expressions and pieces of paper.

Jonathan Shorter, 21, a college student at University of California, San Diego said he arrived early because he needed a new laptop, but he never does his Christmas shopping on “Black Friday.”

“I knew that Best Buy would be having killer deals since it’s ‘Black Friday,’ so I decided to suck it up and deal with all the people,” Shorter said. “It ended up being a good choice because I got in and got out with a great laptop for cheap.”

Not everyone had such a positive outlook on the situation.

Dozens of parents dragged screaming children, people bumped into each other to get to their desired stores, some even jumped in front of others in order to snatch items off the shelves, all to obtain presents for Christmas.

I watched a woman run through the door of JC Penney as a man and a teenager prepared to walk in. Right when he opened the door to let his teenage companion go ahead of him, the woman pushed her way in front of them.

But this type of behavior is to be expected on “Black Friday” and once the infamous day ends, the mall won’t be so hectic, right?

Wrong.

In the same mall two days later, there wasn’t much change. Stores were still crowded, the lines were still long and people still knocked each other over. Yet more and more people kept arriving for the holiday savings.

Has Christmas shopping converted to an “only the strong survive” method?

Sadly, it seems as though it has.

To make matters even worse, the tense mall atmosphere won’t disappear until the Season is over. The period between “Black Friday” and Dec. 25, maybe even a bit after, means the “Christmas Spirit” we have with our family, friends and occasional stranger, will be a faint memory inside mall walls.

So for those of you who are about to tackle your local mall, get ready for the crowds and be prepared to fight for that last Transformers action figure that an old lady in a pea coat is about to take.