Traditions, what's your favorite?

I have a few traditions in my life, but, by far, my most favorite is my yearly tradition of beginning Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving with my mom. We are only two of the thousands of early bird special getters, starting out at the wee hours in the morning on this day otherwise known as BLACK FRIDAY <dun dun dun> :).

Every year we have a similar experience of Black Friday. Upon arriving at our first shopping location, masses of people are hustling and bustling about in their feverish attempts to snag the best shopping deals. We wait in a long checkout line that seems to move only inches every ten minutes. I feel as if we are waiting to get the autograph of some famous person. I wonder to myself, if the waiting to get the one special gift at a cheaper price is worth the tiresome wait. I only have to think of my loving family and the joy on their faces come Christmas morning to instill the motivation in me to continue.

For me, the early morning shopping is not so much for the bargain hunting, but rather for the enjoyable time I get to spend with my mom. She and I both lead hectic and busy lives, so a shopping trip together is time well spent for both of us. I pray for the day that my daughter will find the same enjoyment spending time with me. Shopping is so much more fun when you can share the experience with someone, especially someone you love.

At another store, my mother and I see people bombard the entrance as if they were a heard of wild buffalo running from a lion. Frantic, yet controlled in their trek, the people manage to enter and scuttle off to various places within the store. We stand back and observe the chaos from a safe distance, taking time to chuckle to one another about the craziness of some people. Finally, we get the opportunity to enter the store. Even though we waited to enter, we hurry through the stores as if in a race for some invisible finish line. Thankfully, we were able to get our ‘prize’ that we went in for.

After well over six intense hours of exhausting shopping, my mother and I will go to a well-deserved lunch in hopes of a bit of relaxation. We always let out a deep sigh, when we are seated in our booth, knowing our long shopping adventure had finally come to an end. Over the hot, tasty lunch we laughed, and sometimes cry from laughing so hard, over the morning happenings. ‘Did you see the person who….’ or ‘did you see how many of…..’ were always some of the topics of our lunch conversations.

After spending an hour in the restaurant eating and relaxing, we hit a few more stores, then off for home. Another traditional ‘day after Thanksgiving’ shopping experience filled with bargain sale hunting, overly crowded stores, and laughing with my mom, has come to an end. I look forward to this day every year!!! Oh WOW only 149 days to go to our next big shopping adventure …. November 26, 2010 :) I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!