Black Friday

(Bern & Me in Montana this July)

I usually have a fair amount of Christmas shopping complete by Thanksgiving. However, this year, I fell far behind due to the fact I had a baby! So, this year, Bern and I decided to brave the crowds and fully embrace what is Black Friday in order to get a good start on our Christmas shopping. We got up at 4AM (Colette woke me up to nurse so it was perfect timing) and armed with coffee, we (Bern, Colette and I) headed towards the Jantzen Beach shopping center. We had it all mapped out on where where were going, in what order, and what deals we needed get.

First stop: ToysRUs. When I tell you this is craziness a gazillion times over, it is an understatement. We got there just after 5 AM (when it opened) and the parking lot was PACKED. You actually had to wait for a parking space or park at least 1/2 mile away. There were people everywhere running around with shopping carts full of large boxes and this was just the parking lot! Apparently, there was a line to get in prior to the store opening that went about a 1/4 mile long! At this point, before we entered the store, the thought did enter my mind that I was INSANE for doing this. Nevermind the fact I had Colette strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn.

Once inside, it was clear that there were all sorts of fire code laws being broken as the line to pay wrapped around the store, not once, but twice and the end of the line was spilling into the aisles. It was impossible to find where the end of line was. The store made a fair attempt to organize the chaos by having a nice, tall gentleman with a black cowboy hat on holding a balloon remain at the end of the line. Poor, poor man--clearly he failed to see that he was given the ultimate mission impossible. After the store made an announcment to look for the cowboy at the end of the line, all mahem broke out as people raced to find the cowboy man. We luckily made the end of line (or what we think was the end) before it started to spill into multiple neighboring aisles.

As we headed the opposite direction of the cash register to begin our epic journey around the store, the essentially front of line passed us in the opposite direction. We noticed that there was no one behind the gentleman next to us (going the other direction towards the cash registers) because the there was a serious traffic jam at the back of the store by the stock room where people were in line to get items from back stock. As a result, there was no physical way for the line to go around and continue towards the cash registers. At this point, we figured it was not our fault. After a few seconds of debate, we quickly decided we should help alieviate the congestion, so we quickly hopped behind him.

For a brief moment, I felt bad for the people at the front of the store who had been waiting for gosh knows for how long who couldn't see that the line was not moving. One lady followed us with a sheepish look on her face and said "I'm following you!" The next lady said: "Did you just cut the line?" in a somewhat hostile manner. (Busted.) I said "yes" with a really guilty look on my face and prepared myself to go back to the "end" of line. She hesitated and then jumped behind us! (Whew!) Everyone else around us, believe it or not, were oblivious to what was happening because they were too wrapped up in their own conversations, shopping lists, or they just didn't speak English (poor foreigners--this is one good reason to learn to speak English! No offense intended). Ten minutes later, when we made it to the cash register, I didn't feel bad at all. In fact, I felt like we had done the store a favor by helping move bodies out of the store. :)

We took our packages and headed to our next destination. The chaos and mahem continued where ever we went in one form or another, including me running to the dressing room in Kohls to nurse Colette, while Bern held our place in line, then shortly after that having to go back to the dressing room to change her blow out diaper! Colette was a trooper--she slept nearly the entire time and had no clue what was going on around her--good thing because I was shopping for her presents, too!

By the end of the day we both had about 75% or more of our Christmas shopping done and it wasn't even lunch! I would absolutely do it again so long as Bern is up for it. I think next year we'll have a better strategy on how to tackle the lines by tag teaming. In all we went to ToysRUs, CompUSA, Office Depot (yes, they have great sales on electronics), Target, ULTA, Best Buy, and Kohls all before Noon!

I do not recommend it to the faint of heart, clausterphoics, or people who do not enjoy the hunt of shopping. However, if you are up for the challenge and have a partner, it is worth the early bird sales, particularly on electronics and popular toys, and just for the bonding time you get with your shopping partner. I do not get a chance to be with my sister without my kids (or at least ones that can walk) that much, so I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent together, regardless that a majority of it was spent standing in line! Happy shopping everyone!