I'm not a crazy shopper and have never gotten to the stores early enough to stand in line waiting for the doors to open. I'm not dedicated to one type of product enough to snatch it out of another person's cart. I'm definitely not competitive enough to ever use pepper spray on my fellow shoppers. Those are all just wrong.... literally not-right. I do not understand why anyone would do those things. Seems like a terrible way to start the Christmas season, if you ask me! I will always spend my Thanksgiving day in the comfort of my home, eating delicious food with the people I love, NOT in a tent outside of Target. I will always remember two rules in our household while I'm shopping: "No snatching." and "You get what you get, and you don't have a fit." And really, I have nothing to say about not using pepper spray since that just seems like common sense.
So off I go into the "craze" of Black Friday, equiped with my coffee and a list. This year was a piece of cake as it seems most people went out late on Thanksgiving and by 6am on Black Friday it was pretty calm. It was actually more calm than any other day. I went to Toys R Us first, since I had to pick up a toy that I had bought online (wait til you see what it is... on Christmas morning, I'll post a picture) and the parking lot was hardly full at all. I got a few little goodies for the kids. I put back several things I had initially picked up after thinking to myself "do I want to be picking this up day after day?"
After Toys R Us, I headed to HomeGoods since I had a gift card to use there. Obviously this is not a big "toy" spot, so it too was pretty empty. I, however, got a good deal on some toys for the extended family kids and a bonus is that they are more unique than the toys at the big box stores. I also picked up a few holiday decor items, much to my husband's chagrin. Do we need more holiday towels?! Yes we do! Plus, it was all paid for by a gift card, so it was kind of "free." Next, I stopped at Best Buy, but that wasn't really for Christmas shopping, I just needed a memory card for my camera. Then it was off to the outlet stores and the beginning of the craziness. Talk about a busy parking lot and people all over the place. I was able to get some really great deals on a few outfits for the kids and high tailed it out of there.
Anyway, so what's the point of shopping at the break of dawn on Black Friday? For me, the best part is that I'm all done Christmas shopping. I got a few good deals, and that's a bonus, but most importantly I get to spend the next three weekends spending time with my family, decorating the house, visiting Santa, making cookies, talking about the real reason for Christmas with the kids. To me, that makes the whole Black Friday shopping ideal. The commercialized part was finished almost before it began; I got what I needed to get and I didn't have a fit. And now I get to spend the rest of the Christmas season with those that I love the most and focusing on the many blessings we have in our lives.
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