Black Friday...dun dun duh

Last year was my first experience ever shopping the day after Thanksgiving sales, aka Black Friday. Actually, I didn't even know there was such a thing as Black Friday until last year, and didn't even fully understand the awesomeness of Black Friday until this year! Cammie and Shaina spent the night Thursday night so that we could wake up at 4:30 am and begin the adventure that is Black Friday. I'm thinking Black Friday may be one of my favorite days! The night before, we searched every inch of every add and made our lists so that we could be prepared for the big day. Our first stop, Wal-Mart. Now, I must admit, I am one who tries to avoid Wal-Mart on Saturdays because it gets so busy, so why would I want to go to Wal-Mart on Black Friday? Let me just say, I have never, in my 23 years seen anything like Wal-Mart on Black Friday! It is an experience worth experiencing and a sight to behold! Wal-Mart's sale began at 5:00 am, so we pulled into the parking lot at about 4:55....oh my! There was not a single parking spot. Now, I was under specific instructions to get this TV that was a smokin good deal (yes, that has Jesse written all over it!) so Cammie and Shaina dropped me off so I could fight for my TV. I walked into Wal-Mart at exactly 5:00 and people were already checking out and leaving! Yes, we did not even think about the possibility of going way earlier to our 24 hour Wal-Mart to be ready for the sale! I went straight to the electronic section, where, logically the TV I wanted would be, and as I'm waiting in a crowd, I get a phone call from Cammie who is with Shaina standing next to a mountain of TVs wondering where I am! As it turns out (and some of you more experienced Black Friday, Wal-Mart shoppers can laugh) all of the sale items were out in the large center rows and not where they would normally be on any normal day! So, I swim through the crowd and find Jesses TV...Yay! Meanwhile, while I was swimming through Wal-Mart, Shaina and Cammie had flagged down a leaving shopper, who very kindly let them follow her to her parking spot. Then, Cammie hunted down a shopping cart for us, which we then filled to over flowing! By 6:00 we had managed to get almost everything we wanted, and sneakily found a short line at the jewelry counter and were out of there! It was awesome! Then it was on to JC Penney, Target, and Kohls. Where we also found smokin good deals! By the time we left Target, Shaina's car was full to the brim, Cammie squished in the back seat, so we went home to drop everything off, and have some pie. It was only 9:30! So, since we still had a whole day in front of us, we decided to browse Michaels, and Lowes, where Cammie and I proceeded to get stuff for 3 new projects, and I found a Christmas tree!! Here's where my pictures come in. Unfortunately we were so determined to get everything on our lists, no one remembered to take a picture of our Black Friday shopping adventure until it was too late! So, all we have are some Christmas tree pictures...

So, Christmas just isn't the same without a real Christmas tree! OK, maybe that's not ENTIRELY true, and if you asked Jesse he would say Christmas is Christmas...but this year I had to have a real live tree! So, after Black Friday shopping, up went the real tree! Lowes had a great price, and I just couldn't resist! Shaina and Cammie helped me pick the perfect one, and then all the kids helped put it up. Where were all the men you might ask? They were off shooting at things! They needed a break from watching the sleeping children all morning!! (Ha Ha)


Steve was mommy's little helper....riiiiight! He kept stealing my tools!

I LOVE real trees!

My sis and me...we LOVE Christmas!

Here's a pic from Thanksgiving I forgot to post, of my awesome sis-in-law Cammie and me! Love ya Cammie!!