Black Friday...Well, Now It's Black Thursday....

I try to stay away from making highly opinionated statements on my blog, but sometimes after I feel like one side has been picked on enough, I feel the need to state my piece of mind.

Here's the deal.  I'm not thrilled that storekeepers have chosen to open their stores on the actual day of Thanksgiving.  I think 5am on Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) is early enough.  That way, you still have a chance to (maybe) go to sleep, and get to see the sun rise not too long after your adventures out shopping.  And, of course, I'm not a fan of cutting in to the time doing the post-meal lounging of Thanskgiving. 

That being said, though - for those that want to tell me that folks who choose to go shopping on Thanksgiving are forgoing their "family time" - I want to tell you that, when it comes to time with my mom and sister, there is no greater time spent together than when this shopping adventure happens together.  So maybe our family time isn't spent watching football together, or a Hallmark movie, or playing a game, but it is special, priceless family time nonetheless.

As for the argument regarding employees being forced to work on Thanksgiving, Michele and I have done a little personal research at our local Target and Walmart and have found the widespread opinion to be largely very positive in regards to giving up that holiday in order to earn "time and a half" and be able to afford a more pleasant "holiday experience" for their own family whenever they decide to honor that holiday/family time.  The extra perks (ipods given to Target employees who chose to work that day) and often-times jovial spirit of the experience also encouraged folks who chose to work that night.

So, there's my two sense.  Am I fan of the current shopping scenario?  Nah, I'd rather it go back to the way it was before.  Am I going to boycott it though?  No, I'm not sure if I believe there's a reason to.  Certainly not for me, my mom, sisters, and....this year, our daughters.

(Sadly, John was VERY SAD that he had to miss his annual "favorite overnighter" with Brayden and Travis.  They were sad too, as they avoided the sales in solidarity with his absence.  I think it will just make next year all the more of an adventure....)

Here's a few pics of our adventures.  It started out with Mikayla and Nati joining Michele and I in Walmart.  From there, we dropped the girls off, picked up Mom and headed to Target.  On to the mall next....and then we swapped out Mom for the girls again to return to Target (part of their promotions required a Friday expenditure).  We stopped by Kohls before heading home at 3:30am.  We got a few hours of sleep before going out again with just Mom (who slept over on our couch) to Costco and Bi-Mart.  What a hoot!  For our family, it really is a very, very special part of our holiday.


With the change of the timing of the sales, our looking over the ads has had to "jump the gun" as well...meaning checking out the "leaked" ads online...."Oh, say it aint so!"  So, by the time the paper arrived on Thanksgiving morning, we had a pretty good idea what we'd be seeing...

But, there was still some research to be done "pre-event"....(Obviously, Michele got no help from Brayden!)

A picture taken right before we left for Walmart at about 5:45pm.

And, a pic with Mom at Macy's - and a shot of the line at Target (longest I've ever seen). 

At Macy's, we found Tanner (in the "Womens' PJ" section....clearly he was very lost!) and he led us over to his mom (Nancy), sister, and Grandma who were checking out in line (and later took the above pic of us).  Apparently, Tanner really didn't want to miss out on their family's adventure, but quickly realized it was not the fun he expected.  Therefore, he found other ways to occupy his time.  =)

 This was taken at about 2am...Michele and Nat are looking pretty good.

I was beginning to get a headache and reaching the tired/sleepy state of "This is NOT fun anymore!" (Which can sometimes be turned around with caffeine and lots of punch-drunk laughter, but not in this case with a headache bearing down).  A good indicator it was time to hit the sack for a while.

I should add a postscript that the afternoon of Black Friday was spent watching the Civil War football game between OSU and UO.  After our team's recent performance, I really was rooting for the team that "showed up" on the field and played the hardest....  As it turned out, both teams did, but the Ducks edged out just enough for the win.  We're hoping the Beavers will pick up a bowl game too - they deserve it with how hard they fought in Autzen.