Attention Black Friday shoppers: You survived. Congratulations. I think you’re crazy.

Here are my reasons: You’ve skipped Thanksgiving dinner to camp out in the cold. You’ve sacrificed precious sleep on what should be a four-day weekend. And you’ve stood in line for hours to join the crowds clamoring for a new TV.

I like being warm, well-fed and well-rested, particularly during a long weekend, and I don’t like crowds, so I’ve never shopped the Black Friday sales. I usually try to make a point not to enter a store at all during the weekend after Thanksgiving. I’d prefer to camp out on the couch, eating leftover pie and watching the first Christmas movies of the season.

While I wasn’t shopping, I still had to leave my couch and leftover pie at home to go to the mall and interview Black Friday shoppers. Thankfully, I wasn’t assigned an early shift, so I strolled into the mall around 9 a.m. I expected to encounter a lot of snappy, exhausted shoppers strung out on caffeine and stress. If I’d been up since midnight on a frenzied search for half-off sweaters and purses, I’d be so grumpy you wouldn’t want to talk to me.

But instead of being grumpy, everyone I talked to seemed excited (though this could have been the caffeine buzz kicking in).

One shopper, Yolanda Chambers, told me that she’d been to Walmart the night before for a TV. She described with glee how she and her 14-year-old son got one of the last places in line and spent time chatting with other shoppers. One woman beside her had a Walmart sales ad and together, they went through it, picking out the items they wanted. They didn’t want to leave their places in line, so instead, they formed a strategy -- one shopper would go and get a couple items for others in line. They helped each other shop, instead of fighting over the best deals.

“I didn’t see anything negative,” she said. “We got into the spirit of helping each other.”

For every story like Yolanda’s, you hear more sensational tales of customers fighting over $2 waffle irons or shoppers pepper-spraying each other. These are the stories people remember. These are the tales that give the Christmas shopping season its reputation for transforming rational people into materialistic rioters who can’t remember the meaning of “Happy Holidays.”

The mad rush of Black Friday may be over, but I think a good attitude and a smile is something that will help you throughout the Christmas season -- particularly as the remaining shopping days dwindle and there’s nothing left on the shelves.

So attention shoppers: You’re buying Christmas gifts, not competing in the Hunger Games. Be kind and patient with your fellow shoppers, as well as with the store and restaurant employees. And Happy Holidays.