After pouring for hours over these ads my mom, sister and I comprised a plan. A very ingenious plan of attack. Which store first, for what items, and who stood in line for the entering or exiting. We were brilliant...well, not really but it sounds good, right?
I know what your thinking...why in the world would three otherwise bright women do this to themselves? Well, the answer is easy. It is tradition. Mom and I have been out early on Black Friday since my big kids were little. Back then the deals were really good and the crowds weren't quite what they are today and most stores only opened at 7am. This year we started on Thanksgiving while the men were watching the Cowboys we cut out to go to OldN*vy. My sister cleaned up. Y'all for the record I did ask about the college kid working. He said he had to stay in town anyway so he volunteered to work and it made him feel good to see people so happy. Well, I believe I may have ministered to that dear boy right there in the check out line. See...there was spiritual purposes for my visit ;) Oh, you know I am exaggerating.
So, as I was saying...we left our warm little houses at the stroke of 3:15...AM!! To go and get in the midst of it...and boy did we. At the store only one entrance was opened and it was roped off. The crowd was 6-7 people wide and went on down and around the entire strip mall. It was busy. Mom had made her way up to some friends and scootched (can you belive spell check says there is no such word as scootched???) in with them, when she flew by my sister jumped in as well. Y'all - I just can't do it. I stood out there about another 10 minutes before I finally made it in. I had a keen sense of accomplishment waiting for my turn and not making the people behind me wish I had slept in. We were at Koh}s first and we made out like bandits, except for the fact that we actually paid. My sister grabbed the hot ticket items we were wanting and stepped in the check out line and held our spot until we made it up there with the rest of the goods. It worked perfectly. We walked right up to the check out and were just in time to head over to Tarjay. Again, we did fabulous! Our checkout wasn't as timely but it did keep us from heading over to Wally world anytime too soon. But we did hit W*lgreens for some good decor and candles and B*th & Body Works. From then we went and unloaded our finds. People please understand, we were in my sister's SUV and there was no room to spare. Seriously, boxes were turning her hazard lights on, bags were held in place by arms, heads and other appendages. It was a sight. If I could have managed, which I couldn't I'd have taken a photo for proof.
Anyhow, we dropped off things, picked up my baby nephew, my youngest and eldest daughters and headed of to the big town to shop! We stayed out until 7:30 and were plum wore out. We all hit the hay and had sweet dreams of deals and smiling little faces. And as morning broke we all stayed in bed extra long and enjoyed the day at home...NOT!! We hit it again! And, guess what? Yep, we are going again today! I love the sense of accomplishment as we cross each person off the list. Then I will have the time to bake, listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, make crafts, host parties, wrap, decorate, spend time family and all the other traditions that we enjoy.
And for those of you worried I have completely fallen off my rocker. I have not lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas. I have just managed to get what I would get anyway at a really good deal and enjoyed some really good female bonding with my momma, my sister, my grandma and my two girls.
For the record, my hubby, Hunter and Hope are not all alone sitting at the house waiting on us to return with empty bellies and other needs from me. They are all at the dear lease...which is also tradition!! See, Big Daddy and his crew are happy and having a ball camping, fishing, and hunting - Momma and her crew are happy and having a ball gabbing, shopping and eating food we didn't even cook! It is our family tradition :) Gosh I love this time of year!!
And just for grins...my baby girl - a shopping momma's dream :)
complete with pumpkin patch pumpkins.
The tired chef
Two of our girls
Fifteen years ago today I woke up at about 6:30am. Because my water had broken. I also took my first ambulance ride. I was transported from one hospital to another. A hospital equipped to take care of a 31 week preemie. Because my darling little boy had begun making himself known and was not going to hang out and wait the way the doctors had hoped he would. Officially you were born at 11:19am by emergency c-section. Your heart rate dropped and they couldn't get it to stabilize so off we went. You were born weighing 3lb 8oz. You had a hard time. You endured some major surgeries, in fact at one point the surgeon told your dad and I not to expect you to pull through the surgery. But, thank God...you did :) You spent your first 9 weeks in the NICU and about a good year of hard work to recover completely. But ever since then you have been growing strong and to look at you today one would never even know the difficult start you had.
The worst part is she has such a strong desire to play soccer. To sit there and just watch will probably hurt worse than her ankle. She sure will look pretty doing it though.
My sweet girl :)
Her pretty pumpkins
