Total Pageviews

Friday, December 26, 2014

Confession is Good for the Soul

Confession is good for the soul, or at least that is what they say.
Most of my life there has been a big push to shop on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It wasn't called Black Friday when I was growing up or even when my kids were growing up. However, it was the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
So. It was big.
Now, they have started black Friday and it has even been dragged into Thanksgiving Day. A day most people look forward to not working and spending the day with family.
Well, here is my confession: We shopped on Thanksgiving Day.
Not only that, but we stood in line. For three hours. In the cold.
And you know what? It wasn't half bad.
On the night before Thanksgiving, we had visions of crowds of people pushing and shoving and trampling us to get to the thing we, and they, wanted most: a t v.
We had decided we needed a new tv for the spare bedroom. We wanted a flat screen so that it would sit on top of a bookcase. We talked about it and then decided we would upgrade to a larger one in the living room and put that one in there.
Then, we saw the Black Friday ads on Thanksgiving and they had a great deal for one at Target.
So, we decided we would do this.
I have a sweet husband. He stood in line for about an hour without me so I could stay in the car and keep warm.
I then joined him. The sun was beginning to set, so it was a bit colder, but we were near the building, and not much wind.
Neither of us smoke and cigarette smoke nearly does us in. We had people around us who were smoking, but we were outside and it didn't bother much.
A young lady in front of us took a cigarette out and we were apprehensive, but didn't say anything.
Then she went to the front of the line, stepped out and away, and had her cigarette, and then came back.
I thanked her for that. A conversation ensued and we passed the time nicely.
People came out of the store and started handing out stuff: coupons, granola bars, and....tickets to buy the tvs.
You simply took the ticket to the cashier, paid for the t v and took your receipt to another counter, picked up your t v and left. You had three hours you could shop in the store before you had to pick up your t v.
It was simple.
We took our ticket, paid the price, took the t v and put it into our cart and turned to leave.
We hear, " Hey! You got your t v!" It was our new young friend.
See? Not all shopping stories are horror stories on Thanksgiving.