Shopping on Black Friday--Holy Cow!

I have strategies for getting my Christmas shopping done in the most comfortable environment I can create for myself. I do some of my shopping online, but I still have to venture out for the majority of it. So my strategy is to get up early every Saturday morning and be down south before the masses get there. That means that I am usually there by 8:00 a.m. (no later than 9:00) and most stores I want to shop at are open by then. I don't mind the shopping, but I do mind being in the crowds and standing in long lines.

This Friday, the girls thought it would be "fun" to go to Target early and just watch and do some minor shopping. Since I didn't have much else going on and since I don't mind getting up early, I was game. (I did have to be reminded of why we were thinking this experience would be "fun" a couple of times as my palms started to get sweaty in the bumper-to-bumper traffic.)


























As we were in the turning lane to enter the Target parking lot, Kliss suggested I put my 4-wheel drive vehicle to good use and jump the curb, cross the grass, dodge a tree or two , and get a parking spot. It didn't matter that it was a mile away from the store, it was a parking spot! My what a full parking lot it was. We thought we were getting there as the store was opening but we missed that fiasco. It had already been open an hour when got there at 7 a.m.

We streamed into the store with fellow bargain hunters only to find there were no carts available. How is a person supposed to do serious
shopping without at shopping cart? We should have gotten a clue about the long (read slow) checkout lines when there were not any people giving up their carts as they were leaving the store. As we were deciding what to do about the
dilemma, Matt's cousin, Angie, came through the doors and we gladly invited her to join us in
our adventure. While we were just there to get whatever, Angie had a few items she was looking for.


I couldn't help reminisce about the simple life of Christmas shopping pre-department store days. I remember as a child shopping at Kings and Porters. Kings had aisles of merchandise that were no higher than eye level, unless you were shopping on the outer walls which may have had merchandise higher up. I can't recall that exactly. They had a Toyland downstairs which was the same way. Pretty much what was on the aisles was what you could buy for Christmas. You could do mail order from the Sears and Penneys catalogs which would offer more variety, but that was pretty much it. We were quite limited comparatively speaking. Now it's practically floor to ceiling shelves full of merchandise giving you much more choice, and many more decisions to make.

I think of all the merchandise that just one store like Target carries, then think of the WalMarts, KMarts, Toys R Us's, Sams Clubs, Costcos, ShopKo's, etc., etc., etc. We live in a whole different world from when I was a child and even a young mother with just a couple of kids. It's ironic that even with all the merchandise available, you'll go out shopping and still say, "I wish they'd make ...." or " Why doesn't someone come up with....." or "I've looked all over town and I can't find pink Christmas lights anywhere."

Anyway, cheers to the brave souls who were waiting in lines at 4 and 5 in the morning. May you find peace, goodwill toward men and that $325 laptop you were hoping to buy!