Black Friday

I never participated in Black Friday until I had a child.  Sure, we used to go with our mom the day after Thanksgiving, but that was back in the olden days when stores still opened at a normal time. 

Two years ago the furnace went out and it was FREEZING in our house, so I got up and went to Walmart at 5am.  What a disaster and I proudly claimed that I would NEVER do that again.  The next year I got up at 4am and went to Kohl's.  I was in such a fuzzy state I'm still trying to figure out who I bought all of that stuff for, and yes, I claimed NEVER AGAIN.

Of course I got lured in again this year by a video game that Tommy wanted that was nearly half off at Target this year, so I planned to go.  I convinced my friend, Leslie to go with me, and then on Thanksgiving we recruited Lexi and Ally to go as well.  To kill time I took the girls to a movie but first we needed coffee so we hit the McDonalds Drive Thru.  TWENTY FIVE minutes later we had our coffee, which we had to guzzle down (my throat is still in pain) and went to the movie.  We swung by and picked up Leslie and went to Target.

For some reason I had it in my head that they opened at 10.  Nope.  Midnight.  Crap.  Now we have 90 minutes to kill.  Went and got some gas, thought about going to Walmart, even got so far as the bank across the street to park and then nixed it.  So we went to the other Target and the line was wrapped around the building.  We sat in the car where it was warm and Leslie and the girls played trivia on her phone.  A few minutes before midnight we made our way to the front of the store realizing we would have to wait until the entire line was inside first.

We saw lots of people we knew, everyone was in a happy, cheerful mood.  No pepper spray or stampeding, so that was a plus.  About 1220 the line was inside so the rest of us were allowed in.  We decided it was too difficult to drive a cart, we would just carry our purchases...good thing I brought my elves with me. 

I sent elf #1 (Leslie) off on a secret mission.  Lexi had to make a pit stop so Ally and I headed to electronics where there was a huge line.  I stuck her in the line and headed to the video games.  Luckily I found what I was after right away and I went to rescue Ally from the line.

Then we headed off to housewares.  Their uncle just moved back here from Taiwan and he's setting up a household, so we got a coffee maker, toaster, etc.  This is where the elves came in handy.  We all carried boxes to the front and checked out.  We were out of there by 1245.

The next day after sleeping in I headed up to Evergreen to my friend, Larae's store, Marmalade.  She sells the best jewelry, really unique and beautiful.  I knocked off some gifts from my list all while supporting small business, and headed back home. 

Then after dinner with my hubby, we hit the mall.  My sister was at the mall at Midnight and said it was crazy but she got some good deals.  The place was still busy at 7 o'clock that night, especially the Apple store.  They had a good system though, an express check out.  You basically walked in, said what you wanted and paid.  Of course we got behind the people who were asking a million questions and taking forever, which didn't go over real well with Adrian.  But another checker outer showed up to rescue us.  I don't mind that store, but seriously, turn on some A/C...it was about a thousand degrees in there.

All in all, Black Friday was pretty fun.  I can't believe I'm saying it, but I probably will go Black Friday shopping again next year, as long as my elves are available!