my first black friday shopping experience.

Most people plan to start their Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving - Black Friday. I have always heard stories about ladies lined up outside of stores at 2 AM, trying to get the hottest video game system, or the best deal on a flat screen TV. Our usual tradition has been to sleep as long as Monkey would allow, then go to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast, then head to Lowe's to buy our Christmas tree. We have always bypassed the crazy day after Thanksgiving shopping trips, and just spent the day decorating and enjoying ourselves. This year, I agreed to do my first Black Friday shopping trip ever. Will I do it again next year? Probably not.

While shopping at Toys R Us recently, I happened to hear that they would be opening at 10PM on Thanksgiving night. My friend Ashley is the queen of Black Friday shopping, and was already planning to go, so she and I decided to brave the line together and try to get some good deals! We had several gift cards from BRU/TRU from when Beanie was born, so I figured Black Friday was as good a time as any to spend them! I paired my gift cards with some coupons and ended up getting $170 worth of toys for $40! You can't beat that, but I doubt that, without the incentive of gift cards to spend, I would go back next year.

We lined up about two hours before the store opened, and there were still about 300 people in line in front of us! There were cops everywhere, and I saw some of the ugliest tempers from women in line near us. People were trying to cut in line, people were swearing and yelling - it all made me very uncomfortable! It's sad to see such an ugly side to people!

There were some great deals. My favorite things I bought were a Toy Story 3 bed tent for Bennet, cute pink and purple cars for Kennedy, and a sweet deal I got on some Thomas the Tank Engine wooden train tracks for B. I also got a vacuum cleaner for Bennet, which he will love. I'll love it, too, since it will get him to stop stealing my vacuum attachments when I'm cleaning!

It was lots of fun to hang out with Ashley and to do some shopping for the kids, but next year, I'll plan on lounging on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner and staying home!

As for our usual tradition - Chick-Fil-A breakfast and a Lowe's Christmas tree - we did that, too. Stay tuned for pictures!