Saturday, November 29, 2008

not-so-black friday

Yesterday was my first real experience with post Thanksgiving shopping. Although some might argue that I am not an official "got-the-t-shirt-for-surviving-black-Friday" member since I have never gotten up and been at a store before 4 a.m., I did get out of the door by 7:30. I did actually elbow my way to the mall and I even used coupons!
Before my trip out on retail heaven... or hell (depending on which side of the cash register you are on and/or if you have Dr. Scholl's gel shoe inserts) I was not in the mood for the holidays. I had been sick at Thanksgiving, there has been too much going on, I haven't been generous enough with my time to properly prepare my soul for the Advent season, much less Christmas . Beyond "going through the motions".... it's more like I was stuck in a wheel and being dragged behind the dadgum wagon.
However, black Friday fixed all that. Most of yesterday I was shopping for my favorite people.... they are people I don't know.... unnamed family members on the Angel Tree at church. Each year I pick out one angel for each kid we have. I try to choose things for these children which I would get for my own kids. I never fail to have a misty-eyed moment when I close my eyes and pray that they will enjoy the things I so carefully select for their Special Morning.
Turns out it was much-needed, intense, break-out-the-paddles-type retail therapy for someone who really needed to get a "move on" when it comes to getting ready for celebrating Our Savior's birth.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you are feeling better. I declined the Black Friday hoopla this year but ds was out at 3am to get a washer and dryer.

Anonymous said...

i try as hard as i can to avoid stores on black friday, but it never fails that i end up having to go to walmart or somewhere to buy one thing. this year it was the elliptical at sears. i tried to get it online, but i was not able to get my newly-acquired-just-for-this-purchase sears card number so that i could finish the transaction & pick it up at a later date. it was not a bad experience at all, really. they were well-staffed & i was in & out in about 10 minutes!
i did have to work that night, so i got to be on the receiving end so to speak. but, all in all, it was not too bad!