Black Friday

I don't know if it's tradition in your family, but Black Friday is tradition in mine! So that's where we were yesterday!

My Dad loved to shop (WAY more than my Mom does!) and we never missed a Black Friday! My Mom says I've been going along since I was born, but it was way easy when I was little, because My Dad would just carry me in a baby-backpack-thing and I'd sleep the whole time.

So yesterday, we were at Meijer at 4 am. Yes, 4 am. At Kohls by 5:30, at WalMart by 6, at KMart by 7:15. Then we stopped at Speedway for hot dogs, because I was hungry. And Mom needed caffiene. No one should be exposed to my Mom when she's 'fiene - free!

The whole time, I didn't see even one other kid from my class. My Mom said she thinks most kids and teenagers probably stay home, but I love Black Friday and wouldn't want to be left at home!

And then - the main event - we drove all the way to Bronner's! Bronner's is the worlds largest Christmas store and it's awesome! It's right on the edge of Frankenmuth, which is really cool but we didn't really go there because the traffic was a nightmare and my Mom said "No way!" We were going to stop at Birch Run on the way back (really really huge and awesome outlet shopping) but my Mom was totally worn out, and said that the budget was just as exhausted as she was.

We got home at 4 and she went to bed. She got up at 7, because I had made dinner (chicken and rice) and then she went back to bed after we ate. I woke her up at 9:30 when I went to bed, 'cause she's really hard not to wake up - all I did was open the door to her room to check on her and she woke up.

We talked for a few minutes, sorted our Black Friday deals (we did really good, and the best deals were at Meijer) and that's it. We didn't spend nearly as much as we used to (of course!) and it's too bad because there were some really good electronics deals out there as usual, but we had a really good time!

2 years ago I boycotted Black Friday because John went along and it was always a family day and it just bugged me. I don't know why, it just did. Last year, in the middle of all the junk going on with John, my Mom FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER didn't do Black Friday. This year, I wish John had been able to come with us, but he was in St. Louis at his sister's house.

John was at his sister's house for all of Thanksgiving - My mom said that he had made this plan before they were back together. She seemed ok with it, not sad or upset. She said it might do him some good to be with family for Thanksgiving. And for the first time ever, my Mom didn't cook Thanksgiving dinner!

My mom is an awesome cook - I love it when she cooks big holiday meals. But she didn't really feel like cooking a huge meal just for the two of us and we talked about it and she offered to add the Thanksgiving food budget to Black Friday, and that sounded like a good idea to me. So we didn't have even a turkey or anything, but she's promised that Christmas dinner will be awesome and it usually is, so I'm looking forward to it.

~Jonathon