Black Friday

They say that the term "Black Friday" originates from the idea that this is when the big stores finally reach a profit for the year and get out of the red. In an effort to keep people employed (for fear that these stores would close), I wanted to do my part..... HA! Actually, it's an EXTREMELY special tradition that even if I had nothing I needed to purchase, I would find a way to participate.

Because Kohls moved into town and desired to up the anty with their opening time, this year and last year have begun earlier than ever before. This picture was taken when we left our house en route to Kohls.......
Yeah, that's early..... Mom arrived at our home promptly at 3:30 am..... (Poor thing, she couldn't take an Ambien last night as is necessary for her to use to get to sleep - (an Ambien taken with 4 hours to sleep....yeah, that wouldn't be pretty....) so, she got very little sleep).

Despite all of my efforts at organization, wouldn't you know I left the house without my purse (dumb-dumb!), but at least by going back I remembered to grab my cell phone too (what did we do without those things on these days in the past!). No worries, because Kohls really wasn't my store to shop at, so when I arrived, I hopped in line to save a spot (before it quickly wrapped around the store) and we were out of there by 4:45. Michele and Mom arrived at Shopko just as they opened, and I, for the first time, waited an extended time outside of a store before opening. This place was 6am-opening Target, so I waited outside for an hour and 15 minutes in sub-freezing temps. Don't worry - I had a Thermacare patch on my neck, keeping that area warm, about 5 layers on my body, two sets of gloves, and an ear warmer - as well as my ipod filling my head with Christmas music and all of my ads to make more concise strategies for the rest of the day. It was very cold - and a bit long, but Mom and Michele arrived for the last 15 minutes prior to opening and we did did just fine.

There was a bit of a disturbing moment as the doors of Target opened. There had been peace as the line extended backwards all the way to the opening of Gateway mall. But, then, there started to be a gathering of folks waiting across the street in the parking lot - vultures, ready to walk straight in as the door opened vs. waiting in line. The "line folks" did NOT take too kindly to this occurrence and some shouting with unfortunate expletives was used as a group chant began "WAIT IN LINE!". I do think that the ONE Target employee as well as angry line members managed to keep the vultures at bay, but, while I don't condone the anger expressed by the line-goers, was aghast at the audacity of these folks that wanted to cheat the system. One family was trying to use their very-pregnant daughter as their excuse as to why they should just walk in..... I could give me reasons why this is a ludicrous argument, but really not worth it. I think for many, Black Friday is a bit of a game, and in any game, "cheaters" just aren't any fun.

All that said, I was unaffected by these folks and victorious in my Target pursuits. I have a Target Card, and as a result, get 10% off total purchases when I spend a certain amount of money. I had saved this coupon for this very day, knowing there were many items that were needed for Christmas that weren't likely to go on sale, and I might as well just save the 10%. Michele and Mom planned on using it as well. We quickly filled our carts, even wandered a bit in our sleep-deprivation stupor - and then gathered in line -straight on towards the registers- near the jewelry area. It is a sad thing to see folks lined all the way around for those registers to the right, when you can go straight on in lines from certain locations. Oh well.....

We got up to the register pretty quick - Michele had done her transaction and went to get the car, when my transaction "froze the register". The wonderfully capable "Mandy the Manager" was quick on the scene (no sarcasm implied, she was great) and told us it would be a couple of minutes and she would offset the wait with an additional $3 off. No worries, we didn't have a pending store necessary to run to next, so we were okay. When it started to reach ten minutes wait time, she returned and told us we could take her "team discount of 10%" as an additional savings. ALRIGHTY! That was a huge savings for us as we had really piled the carts between the three of us - so, there you go, Hollie. You asked if there were any killer deals - 20% off everything purchases at Target made the deal of the day.

Here are pictures of "breakfast" after Target- note the clock saying 7:34-


From there, we hit a peaceful Toys R Us, the mall and finally Costco before returning to our house to organize and distribute our loot. The final picture of me is taken in the dressing room of Sports Authority. Please, no lectures on how unsanitary the floor might be to lay on - when you are that tired - it just doesn't matter, folks!!!!

Special thanks to my wonderful hubby who took care of the kids! Next year, I believe he and Travis will be taking on the "midnight opening" of the Woodburn outlets, so they are already excited for that. What a fun day - such fun memories - hope your Friday, however you spent it, was special as well!