Black Friday

Most people I know stay far, far away from the shops on the day after Thanksgiving, aka Black Friday but it is one of my absolute favorite days of the year! My mom and I have been doing it since I was eight or nine, and I plan on introducing Leila to the early-morning shopping as soon as she wants to come! This year Leila was a perfect alarm clock - she woke up around 3:40 am, ate for a few minutes then went back to bed. I got myself ready, and my parent's were at my house at 4:30 am. (My dad stayed with Leila until 10:30 - what a good Grandpa!) My mom and I were at Starbuck's by 4:35 am, and once we had our coffees in-hand the shopping began! By 6:45 am we hit Toys 'R Us, Mervyn's, and Target. We went to my house to drop off the first load of stuff, gave Leila some kisses and we were back off! We came back to my house around 10:30, picked up Leila and got some breakfast. After breakfast we were off again! We finally finished up around 3:30 - that's right, eleven hours of shopping with just two coffee breaks and one breakfast break. It was like a small marathon...seriously, shopping is my cardio.

This year was the first year we went to Toys 'R Us and I think the crowd there was the craziest - don't mess with people when they're trying to get their kid the it toy! I was able to get Leila everything I was looking for on Black Friday, and made a good dent on my Christmas shopping!