Since I have a dysfunctional family, I often find myself dreading the upcoming holidays, rather than enjoying them. Sad as this may seem, I am never disappointed when someone flies off the handle (generally my grandma) and the mood for the holidays are sour. Despite all of that, I honestly try and find the joy in the holidays.
For Thanksgiving, my happiness happens to be Black Friday. It never fails, there is always excitement going out at odd hours of the night to buy toys that I would never buy on any other day. This was to be my fifth year in a row going out on the day after Thanksgiving, and each year my planning gets more and more intricate.
It's amazing how a couple weeks before the big day, online websites will get a hold of Black Friday adds, and post them. This makes planning much easier for hardcore BF shoppers, such as myself. Comparing prices, I can make my battle plan earlier than Thanksgiving, when the adds are featured in the local newspaper.
This year, both Toys'R'us and and Wal-Mart through me through a loop. As Toys'R'us offered a midnight opening and great deals on some toys for Ariana, I figured we would be starting there. My sister and her friend went with me (thank goodness, too, they are a hyper couple), but they weren't happy to hear that we were going out to stand in line at 9pm for Toys'R'us and that we would not be sleeping.
Convincing me to buy them energy drinks on the way, we were in a line with approximately 20 people in front of us. The rain came and went, but compared to previous years, it wasn't cold at all (which was probably because we were in line at 9pm, not 2am). We sat, stood, and they giggled about absolutely nothing at all. Oh, how I remember being a teenager. Haha!
Come 10 minutes before opening, the usual "line jumpers" started to crowd around the curb directly across the front doors. Recognizing such a crowd from years passed, I informed the girls what was about to happen. That being, doors open, people rush across the street, and cut in line. It was a classic (but not classy) act, which involved those of us who had been standing in line for hours to become quite upset, and punches would most likely be thrown.
Now Toys'R'us had made a barricade with carts to protect such an act from happening. However, they did not tie said carts together, so people were grabbing them and taking them to their places in line. I was nervous... no I was pissed that these people, showing up 10-20 minutes before the store opened, were going to be getting in before the mile-long (no joke) line that had been waiting for hours.
Buuuut, Toys'R'us threw us another curve ball when about 10 employees came out, and formed a human barricade to keep the line jumpers out. No kidding. Believe it or not, that barricade worked, too! At least no one jumped us or the 20 people in front of us, which was all I cared about, really. We were in and out of that store in 1/2 and hour, which was great, and off to Wal-Mart we went.
I am pretty sure I almost died of shock when we arrived at Wal-Mart, too. My sister said "there's no line" yet the parking lot was full. I laughed at her, thinking that wasn't possible. Ohhh, but it was. We cautiously walked up to the door, to find them open, and into the store, which had few people in it.
Panic set it, and I was positive that they must have started sales early, and all the good stuff had to be gone. Most importantly, the Ipod Touch my mom was making me get my brother for Christmas. I sent the girls off with my list as I headed to the electronics. Peeking into their MP3 player case, I saw plenty of the Ipod Touch, and felt I bit of relief.
Keep in mind, it is 1245am, and Wal-Mart wasn't scheduled to open until 5am. We were all very confused. Reaching the counter, the lady was kind enough to sell me the Ipod at the BF price, before the 5am time. Score! I put that hot item into my jacket, which was then covered with the things the girls brought me.
After we had everything (and more) in our carts, we stood there, staring at each other, and wondered what in the world we were going to do until 5am. We weren't allowed to buy anything at BF price until then, so we had to wait. And wait, and then wait in the checkout line, and wait some more.
In the time between finding the items we were buying, and actually getting to the register, many things took place. Two different people on two different occasions thought it would be a good idea to take their shopping carts, full of goods, and run through the doors and out of the store. Not smart. Both were caught. All we heard from where we stood were different store alarms going off. We were also subject to people trying to make their own line, which was not so promptly shut down by some of the store employees. Nice try, cheaters!!
Here are some pics of the girls sleeping and hanging around (yes, in toddler chairs). My sisters friend, Kayla, even sang "I'm A Barbie Girl."At least they were good entertainment for me. :)
Oh yes, and how could I forget their infamous sword fight? It would have been hysterical if I would have caught the part where they almost knocked down half the isle in the midst of said fight, but my timing was off.
After six hours at Wal-Mart, I was done with shopping. Tired and feet hurting like one can't explain, we went home and crashed!! No Target for me, though I wanted to. And, I missed the sock sale at Fred Meyer! Still a bit irked about that.
After her keyboard bashing, we may or may not have had to restart the computer to get the monitor to work correctly. And I may or may not have to figure out how to fix the internet screen size. Still wondering why I don't get a taskbar for my different windows at the bottom of the screen.
