Black Friday Recap

You may remember my post about Black Friday shopping last week.  I was extremely stressed out about possibly not shopping.  Well, I have the most amazing grandmother in the world (for lots of other reasons than this) and she came to my rescue! Even though I'm 90% sure she would rather do anything than drag herself outta bed at 6 am to come over, she did it anyway because she loves us. :-)

It seemed like most people were out at midnight, but we like to stick to the early morning, but not too early.  When we first got to the mall, it was awesome, there were lots of parking spaces and not too many people in the stores, yet we were still able to get all the awesome deals!  Why would anyone want to go at midnight??

After spending lots of hours and money (I still don't know my total because I'm too scared to add it up. Let's just say I was waiting for one of the stores to decline me!) at the mall we had lunch and moved on to Toys R Us. Again, that store wasn't so bad either by the time we got there. After that we hit Kohl's and then Target.

I have to say that after this trip I am just about finished shopping for everyone.  I might need get a couple more things for Patrick and stocking stuffers but I got way more than I probably needed.  Isn't that part of the fun on Black Friday? I was even able to get a few things for myself! :-)

I can't believe how long we were out tearing it up at the stores. I thought we'd be home around 12:30 - 1:00 since we left here at 6:30, but we didn't get home until about 4:00. Wow!!   Then it was off to my Aunt and Uncle's for Thanksgiving leftovers, which is the best after a long day of shopping!

Until next year credit card! I wish I had taken a picture of all our bags in the back of the van.  It was ridiculous!! But, I forgot since we had to cram them all up to the middle to fit Patrick's new ping pong table in the back!

Black Friday Shopping

When I was little I couldn't wait for Christmas! I can remember being at my grandmother's for Thanksgiving and when dinner was over all the adults would sit around and talk and us kids? We got busy on our Christmas lists! We needed to get them done so we could leave them there so Mom-mom and Pop-pop would know just what to get us.  This lasted for awhile, until I was big enough to no longer need to write a list, I could actually go shopping with the girls (my grandmother, mom, sister, and cousins, Aimee & Bethany) and pick out what I wanted.  And?  I LOVED it!!!

Yes, it's crazy out there but it's a tradition that I look forward to every year.  I can remember every year Mom and Mom-mom wanted to get started super early and my cousin, sister, and I would beg to start a little bit later, maybe closer to 7-8.  We would get there and visit what seemed like every single store until we found that perfect item and Mom-mom would make the purchase. After everyone was finished shopping we'd gather in the food court for lunch, Mom-mom's treat.  Ah, memories! <3

As we got a little older our group started to shrink and it eventually it ended up being Aimee and I meeting Mom and Mom-mom for our shopping spree.  Once we finished shopping, and lunch, of course, Aimee and I would break off and make a few mores stops on the way home.

Now that we have families of our own our shopping sprees with Mom-mom have come to an end because it's just easier to get a gift card or money since she has a billion grandkids & great grandkids.  But Aimee and I have continued this shopping tradition.  Every year we meet up at my house and off we go.  Mom-mom we be proud that we even started going a little earlier each year! You just can't find the deals that we do on Black Friday any other time.  And it's the best for when you have no clue what to get for someone because I can always spot something that someone has to have!

Patrick has always been able to work later that day so our shopping would work out. Now, he's in a different position and is forced to be out working at the same time we need to be shopping.  Not good.  This is a long standing tradition.  What am I supposed to do?  I can't imagine not being able to go.  It might sound ridiculous but as I type this I am getting the watery eyes because I am stressed out about what to do.  No one wants to babysit your kids at 5 am.  Everyone's working or sleeping.  This is one of those times that I wish Mom was still here.  There would be no question as to what to do.

Shopping is NOT supposed to be so stressful!  Stupid work schedules! Sigh...