Mejojac's Memos

Black-ish Friday

This is long... sorry. Last year our shopping experience was a tad frightening. Not super scary, but we were one of the few that got "THE" item at one plac. You can read about that here. This year wasn't quite so crazy. We started plotting and planning on Thanksgiving morning and I started lamenting because there were 3 stores that opened at the same time and they had things that I NEEDED! Okay, so, maybe I didn't need them, but I WANTED THEM! I narrowed it down to two stores. We had to be at Toys R Us and ShopKo at 5:00. In steps my brother's totally awesome wife - they have a big group that goes out every year. They divide and conquer the shopping world. They had a group that was going to be at Toys R Us and they offered to pick up my things. They got every stinkin thing on my list! They totally rock and I will love them FOREVER!!

Anyway, Mom and I got up at 4:00 and started to layer. You see, you can't go out in Idaho at 4 a.m. without 100 or so layers. We went to ShopKo. They opened one set of doors at 5 a.m. on the dot. The other set of doors, the ones we were lined up at, opened at 5:00:32.4 and there was much weeping and wailing and general gnashing of teeth. So, we did the only sensible thing - we RAN to the other doors and got in just a few seconds faster than the people we had been in line with. The only downside to this was a pretty good shove I got from a lady on her way past me. We found almost everything we were looking for. My Mom couldn't find one thing (I would tell you what that one thing is, but the person the gift is for occasionally reads the blog). We stood in line and joked with the people around us, lest they should decide they HAD to have what we had and try to take it from us. Apparently my humor worked well because no one ripped the Littlest Pets or Star Wars Blaster from our frozen fingers. After that we headed to a craft store called Porters. Once a year this store does a wonderful thing - they put all of their Willowtree figurines on sale - including the Nativity sets. I got the main set last year and this year I added the stars, another shepherd, 2 more lambs and a camel. I will get the ox and goat for my birthday (thanks again Mom!!). Next year I will save up and get the wise men set and maybe some more stars. And someday I will have the gorgeous creche!!

After that I think we went to WalMart. They had been open for a few hours... but we were hoping a few things might still be left. We were SO SURPRISED!! There were very few people there and they had a lot of their door busters left! So we got our things, plus a few other things! Remember that one thing that my Mom couldn't find at ShopKo? She found it at WalMart for $20 less. Who knew that WalMart could bring so much joy? Usually I dislike them, but on Friday, we were friends. After that we went to KMart and got some jammies and a few clothes. Then we headed to Geraldines. If you are ever in Idaho Falls you MUST stop there for a cinnamon roll. It will make you say "Cinnabon who??" They are fantastic! By happy coincidence, my brother and his wife were there with their shopping party. They gave me my Toys R Us items (Hello Transformer that turns into the Millennium Falcon!!) and then we bought our gooey goodness and headed home. Other's may not have gotten everything they were hoping for, but my black Friday wasn't all that black. More of a gray-purple color that matched my frozen limbs. We were only out for 4 1/2 hours but it was worth it. My Christmas shopping is done. Yeah, you heard me - I'm DONE SHOPPING! We can now commence with holiday joy!