I Found the "Black" in Black Friday

How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was awesome! It is so good to be able to just relax with my family. We went to my mom's at 2 on Thursday and my Aunt's at 5 on Friday. Good people, good fun, good food... truly a time when you are reminded about all that you have to be thankful for.

If you are a longtime follower of this blog, or just a friend, you know that my family likes to shop the day after Thanksgiving. The tradition started years ago. I don't know exactly how old we were the first time that Laura, Jenna and I scoured the ads on Thanksgiving day and ventured out into the cold for some Christmas shopping. I know that I was still too young to drive because we had to ask my grandmother to drop us off at the mall and pick us up a few hours later. We have pretty much continued the tradition every year. Last year was the first year that I didn't have any money to shop, when the time came. And I know there have been a year or two when we didn't get up super early, but just when we woke up, around 9:00. But for the most part, we are ad-hunting, list making, stand in line in the cold, die-hard shoppers.

I have always kind of taken offense to the term "Black Friday". They make it sound so evil! And how can something that brings us such fun and saves us money at the same time, be bad? But this year I have come to understand - there is definitely a black side to this day. It's at Wal-mart.

Oh. My. Goodness.

So here's the deal. I looked through the ads several times on Thursday making notes and forming plans, and in the end, there were just a handful of stores that I wanted to visit. Kohl's had a good ad, but I have learned from past experience, that it's not a good fit for me on this shopping day. I don't mind waiting in line for the store to open, but waiting in line for 2 hours to check out just isn't my thing. And that store always has good sales. Not just on that day. So it is a store that I generally avoid on the day after Thanksgiving. Toys-R-Us always has a great ad, and I do have a lot of children to buy for, but last year I discovered some other stores wear I find amazing toys for unbeatable prices, so this year, I just didn't feel the need to go to Toys-R-Us. We don't buy electronics on this day, so that cuts a lot of stores out of the picture. It is just simple gifts on our list this year.

There was nothing big at Wal-Mart that I wanted, but several little things that I thought would be nice gifts. Their sale started at 10:00 but they would be open all day (I think?) so you could be in the store and not have to wait in line outside. My thinking was that I could go around 8:00, take my time finding everything that I wanted to buy, and then it would be quick to grab and go when the time came.

I have gone to Wal-Mart plenty of times on Black Friday, but never when the sale first began. And now that I have done it, I know to never, ever, to it again. First of all, all of the "door busters", which I guess meant everything in the ad, were not on shelves, but in stacks around the store and covered by black shrink-wrap so you couldn't see what was what. But some of the stacks had boxes on top that you could see, or at the bottom, so I thought that I knew the general area where my product would be. The other things I was looking for were clothes and DVDs, so I knew where to find them. So I picked a spot next to my tower of shrink-wrapped mystery and waited. When I got there at 8:00, there were probably a dozen other people standing and waiting. As 10:00 got closer, more people came and eventually we were packed in like sardines.

At this point, I could tell you 10 stories, that you may or may not believe, about what happened during "the wait", as I now like to think of it. But it would take too long. So I will just tell you that the best part was watching the grandmother behind me play with her granddaughter, and the worst part was when the woman next to me started fanning her armpits.

When 10:00 came, the crowd could no longer be contained. They stepped over the 5 foot teenager who was supposed to be keeping us in line and ripped off the plastic. I am 100% serious when I say that they started grabbing items off the stack and throwing them in the air. And I was in the kitchen area, so it was griddles and 3 pot slow cookers that were being thrown. The only reason that I knew I was in the right spot is because the $3 waffle iron that I had been waiting for was being thrown in the air into the crowd. I did not push my way forward to snatch one, first because I was terrified, and second because the sweet granny who had been standing behind me abandoned her crying granddaughter to rush forward for her bargain Tupperware.

I am thankful that I made it out alive. I did not get the waffle iron, and I had lost interest in the undershirts, underwear and slippers that I thought would be perfect stocking stuffers. Once I was free from the ridiculous crowd, I headed for the exit.

The rest of my experience was lovely. I left Wal-Mart and headed for Target, which was the exact opposite experience. Before I even made it into the store, I had a great time waiting in line when I ran into one of my oldest friends, who I haven't seen in years. For those of you who know her, Jalyn is doing great =-)

Target had police officers monitoring the line and they were passing out maps and energy bars. Then at midnight, they let people into the store in groups of 30, which was genius! There was no blockage at the door because in the 2-3 minutes in between letting groups in, the people inside the store had time to get a basket and head to whatever section they were headed for. They were also kicking people out if they ran through the store. It was awesome!!!

I bought a $30 Christmas tree, which I will blog about later, a $15 Santa cookie jar for my mother-in-law who collects Santa's, and a pair of $20 slippers that look like loafers, that were on sale for $12. I think I am about to go return the slippers. They are pretty great, and I bought them because a girl at work wears them and they totally look like moccasins, so I think I could get away with wearing them and they would feel good on my feet. But I realized that they will only look good with jeans, and I only get to wear jeans on Fridays, so I would rather take them back and buy a gift.

After Target I went to Walgreens to stock up on wrapping paper and that sort of thing. They have some fun toys there, but I bought those on my lunch break on Wednesday.

Then I went home and slept until 9:00. I was back in a store by 10:00. Friday, I did Best Buy, Half Price Books, Tuesday Morning and Big Lots. I'm very happy with what we bought. Most of our money went to Amazon and an awesome website that I found and ordered several gifts from. We need to grocery shop before we buy anything else.

Today we put up our tree. It looks so good! I will post a picture when I blog about the tree. It's special =-) And the decorating was even better because Jeff was here! I'm so happy we got to see him while he was in town!

I hope everyone had a splendid holiday. This is my favorite time of year =-) I hope that I make the most of it this year.

Happy Holiday!

Our Family Grows by One

Have I mentioned I have a new nephew? His name is Braylon and he is PRECIOUS!!! He will be 4 weeks old on Tuesday and honestly, I haven't gotten to know him very well yet. He mostly sleeps. But he is cute as can be, and I am finally sitting down to show him to you!

I also have a new "niece". My best friend is now a mother =-) And I couldn't be happier. Emily is already more fashionable than I am, and she has her mothers gorgeous big eyes. What a sweetie. I was so happy to have our first lunch date on my days off a few weeks ago.

And finally, here is a picture of my sisters and I, and my niece Madilyn, at my cousin Ragan's wedding. (Jenina, can you believe Ragan got married??? She was beautiful!!!)

I am thrilled that Thanksgiving is this week. I love Thanksgiving. I am ridiculously thankful for the blessings in my life. I'm one of those people who can't talk about her family without tearing up a bit. I would probably be embarrassed by that if I didn't share that trait with the greatest lady I know, my mom.

We had "Thanksgiving Feasts" at the school on Friday. Each class has a feast where the school provides turkey and parents sign up to bring everything else. The teachers get to eat the leftovers for lunch =-) So on Friday I had a plate with a bit of mashed potatoes, a bit of green beans (the only vegetable available), a bit of stuffing, a bit of mac and cheese, and a small slice of the best pumpkin pie I have ever had in my life! I wish I knew who made it so I could ask them how they made it so tasty!

Tonight was Thanksgiving #2. We celebrated with Brett's mom. She made pork roast, mashed potatoes, asparagus and crescent rolls. All totally delish. I made the dessert (a Cooking Light Apple Crisp), and in typical Kim fashion, I messed it up. Here's what happened:

I was planning to make this dessert after lunch, which we were going to eat at home after church. I thought I would probably start around 2:00. Well, today is my sister Jenna's birthday. Happy birthday, Jenna!!! So instead, after church I dropped Brett off and headed over to Laura and Jenna's house to enjoy a delicious brunch! It was totally worth hanging out with my sisters, brothers-in-law, niece and nephew to get home a little later. But when I got home at 3, I felt like I needed to hurry a bit. We had to be at Margaret's casa at 5:30.

This was not my first time to make the apple crisp. I made it a month or so ago. It was easy and delicious and my favorite part of making it was slicing the apples. So when I got home, I was eager to get slicing. But guess what I forgot to do? Um, you're supposed to peel the apples first. I didn't even read that part of the ingredient list. The part where it says "7 cups of PEELED sliced apples". Because that was the ingredient I knew! Apples, 7 cups. Duh. It was everything else that I didn't remember amounts for.

I also mixed the walnuts into the apples instead of into the topping. Hehe. I just totally read it wrong.

It tasted okay, but the apples looked like squash and the peels were hard to cut into with my spoon. Oh Kim. Slow down next time! Read the stinkin' directions! It takes 5 minutes! Brett's mom was super nice about it though.

Moving on.

We will have an afternoon lunch with my family on Thanksgiving Day. My favorite. I am going to wake up early and run out to get a paper. We get paid on Wednesday and we have a few big bills to pay, so I don't know how much shopping we are going to be able to do on Friday, but I will do whatever we can.

The most exciting thing about Friday is... wait for it... WE ARE BUYING A NEW CHRISTMAS TREE!!! I can not tell you how excited I am that we are going to have our very first full sized (fake) Christmas tree!!! And the reason we are doing so is because we are living in our first (rented) house. Which I love. I am so ready to deck the halls! We have been using my 4 foot tree on our dining room table since we got married. I had that tree for 8 years. It gave it's all. Last year, I couldn't put it back in the box. It was time to let it go. That sad little tree. I also threw away some ornaments that were peeling. I bought them at Walgreens mostly. For super cheap. They just weren't meant to live that long. So on Friday, we will definitely be buying a new tree and hopefully some ornaments for it. I'M SO EXCITED!!!

I hope that everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving. Be safe, all you travelers. Eat too much, laugh too loud, and sleep too late. Now is your chance =-) Happy Thanksgiving.

A Few Quick Thoughts

1) I want to introduce you to my new nephew! Braylon and his mommy are both doing well. If Braylon would start eating a little more, everything would be perfect =-) But hey, this is the only time in his life that he can sleep absolutely as much as he wants to and not have to feel bad about it. So more power to him! I will be uploading pictures very soon!

2) I am so happy that the holiday are practically here! I am THRILLED that next Friday, Brett and I will be buying our first ever full sized (fake) Christmas tree. The first Bacon Christmas tree!!! We have been using my sad little 4 footer for the past several years, but last year, I just couldn't put it back in the box. It looked way too much like Charlie Brown's tree. I thought the other decorations would make fun of it.

3) Food was not bad today. I haven't said those words in a long time. Too long. I hope to say it a lot more.

4) Ya know, a girl spends DECADES trying to figure out the perfect way to apply make-up. By the time some of us really get a feel for it, it's time to start buying age-defying make-up. Doesn't that just seem unjust?

I WILL be blogging more soon. This weekend I just had to clean the house. I had to!!! My poor sweet house. I even dusted the ceiling fans. Take that dirt!