Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent this year with my mom and her family. We had an extra special treat because my step brother came back from the middle east where he has been stationed. He and his lovely wife Leslie were able to fly here with their two little boys. It was great to see them! We had a great meal that was topped off with Loren's home made butter. Some of the pics in the collage below show the kids helping Loren make the butter! We spent the night at my mom's house and the next day the kids all decorated gingerbread cookies. Thanks for a great Thanksgiving guys. (You can click on the collage to make the pics bigger.)

My Black Friday Adventure...

While we were at my mom's house, we browsed the Black Friday ads and saw that Toys R Us was having a killer sale on a couple of things that we were planning on getting the girls. I talked Loren into attempting our first Black Friday shopping experience. (Last year I ventured to walmart about 11 a.m. and bought 2 barbie cars but the rush had died off by then.) So, with my previous experience in mind, I did not realize what I was getting myself into. At 4:30 a.m. my alarm goes off. I roll over on the bed and shake Loren awake. We shuffle into our clothes and sneak out the door. We get to Toys R Us about 4:50 a.m. where we were going to await the 5 a.m. opening. By the time we actually pulled into the lot there was a line of people from the door all the way down the width of the parking lot, then the line turned and extended another 4 rows of cars. This boggled my mind! How long had these fools...ahem I mean people...been waiting in line! So Loren and I walked toward the front of the line to wait by a row of cars for the line to die down after the crowd of bargain hunters would soon barge their way through the front doors.

Waiting patiently with us were a few other folks who didn't want to mess with the crowd of angry, grumpy folks. The doors were about to open and an elderly woman started walking, hobbling and limping is more like it, toward the doors...toward that crowd. Then I heard what I was sure was a bear. No human could growl like that, especially at 5 in the morning! As my eyes searched frantically through the dark looking for the bear, hoping I somehow could stop it from ripping apart this horde of shoppers, I realized it was not a bear, it was a man--a very angry man--who was yelling at this poor old lady! The woman slowly turned away and started walking back toward my little posse--I call ourselves "the nice ones"--as the line of teeth gnashing mobsters clapped their hands at the man who turned the woman away. Then people started attacking the little group of people waiting by us...not literally, just through words. We all looked at each other and chuckled at their immaturity and just shook our heads at the pure selfishness of the situation. Then the doors opened. The next several minutes were full of pushing, shoving, yelling, and arguing. At this point I asked Loren if we should start singing Christmas hymns. Then I realized this mob of people would probably only be interested in the Christmas song "O Come All Ye Faithful" because it could depict the shoppers on Black Friday.

That makes sense though, a crowd of angry bargain hunters who venture out before the break of dawn to wait in the freezing cold in order to save a few bucks would be interested in a song that talks about their shopping experience, "O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant..." So, needless to say, I did not sing my hymns. After the line grew sparse, Loren and I made our way into the store. We found the 2 items we were looking for and then just wandered around watching people. Not very many people seemed happy, of course this might be due to the 5 a.m. time, but it made me reflect on how the materialism of this holiday sure does take away from the "Spirit of Christmas" which should, theoretically, reflect the Spirit of Christ. My Black Friday experience reflected everything but that sweet spirit. So as the season progresses and as you continue with your Christmas shopping, please remember the reason for the season. And, just to note, I don't think I will do anymore Black Friday shopping. Anytime a human can sound like a bear to frighten a little old lady is a good enough reason to keep me away.

Merry Christmas

P.S. before anyone tries to convince me that Black Friday shopping is fun, stop. 3 people were killed across the nation this year...this day has clearly gotten out of control.