Ghosts of Black Fridays Past

Once we moved to Boise (a big city with actual shopping) I remember Black Friday shopping with my mom as a Thanksgiving tradition as important as turkey, the burning of the beak, and our family football game. I remember well the sights and smells of Black Friday - women in sweats with messy hair and terrible morning breath!

The first few years I went we basically planned our schedule around the free gifts that stores would give to lure customers into their stores. One year I remember coming home with a tin of carmel corn from Shopko, stuffed penguins from JC Penney, a Christmas ornament from somewhere else, and more...I came home with a full bag of freebies!

Then there was the year of the furby! Furby's were the HOT toy for Christmas and impossible to find. My aunt Leslie was in town and wanted 2 for her kids, my mom wanted one for my little brother. Walmart had announced they would have fuby's so we stood outside early in the dark waiting for the doors to open. My mom has always been a dignified Black Friday shopper (she would curl her bangs, brush her teeth, and wear real clothes). Right before the doors opened she said, "I'm not going to run, I'm not going to run...but you are young, RUN!!!"

So I made a mad dash with a mob of people to the fuby's. The shelves were picked over fast and there were a few casualties, so I dove low. From the bottom shelf I was able to snatch 2 fuby's giving no thought to color or style. Immediately people tried to grab the furby's from my hands, I had to escape the mayhem and hide in another aisle until I found my mom and Leslie. Victory was sweet and the whole experience was quite an adrenaline rush...that is when I realized Black Friday is really more of a sport than anything else.

Risked my life for this little guy...still don't get this toy, they were creepy, weird and not very fun to play with!

A few years later I was taken out by a shopping cart, rammed down. Once again at Walmart going for a $20 DVD player. I ran back to the electronics along with a mob of people (with shopping carts) and we couldn't find the DVD players anywhere. I found my mom a little while later calmly pushing her cart with a few DVD players. She informed me they were in a display next to the meat...of course, why wouldn't I think of that?

I haven't really been home for Thanksgiving since before my mission and haven't been in a position to participate in Black Friday...so this year I was stoked that I could!

What would possess a pregnant girl who is still struggling with morning sickness get up at 2:30 to stand in a cold line at Best Buy you might ask?

A $200 laptop (our home computer died) of course. At Best Buy they hand out tickets for the door buster items between 3 and 5 am. I had the unfortunate luck of arriving in line right before an alcohol reaking, constantly swearing drunk guy, who enjoyed telling all of us in line about his night at "Uncle Buck's" and his drunk buddy that was passed out in his car. I started to feel a little unsafe when a police officer arrived to walk up and down our line keeping control of the situation. A guy from a neighboring gas station also came with doughnuts for everyone...it was an experience. By 4 am the laptop tickets were gone and I didn't get one. So I headed to JCPenney for the $20 pots and pans set (for a family my club is sponsoring for Christmas). I looked all over the store and couldn't find them. When I asked the employee he informed me that they are actually at JCPenney home store in a completely different location and he was sure they were gone.

So by 4:30 I was feeling tired, nauseated, and like a Black Friday loser...so to cheer myself up I went to none other than Walmart!

Oh my. It was mayhem, I have never seen so many people in one place, or smelled so many terrible after Thanksgiving smells! It took patience and a lot of smooth maneuvering to get my cart from one of the store to the other. I felt really bad for the employee in charge of the $5 Barbie and Bratz dolls display. People were diving for the pile and dolls were flying everywhere. The whole time he just stood in the middle of it and tried to stand the dolls up again, as soon as he would get them up they would get knocked down again. He was pretty much in tears by 5:30. I missed out on a few door busters but was able to get the family we are sponsoring tons of things on their list for only $100. The checkout line took 1 hour, by 7:00 the sun was up and I was feeling my Black Friday groove. I drove to a mall to meet up with my friend Jessica. Then it hit me, I was sleepy (too tired to shop which is weird for me), so I ended up coming home shortly after to Clark and Ethan just waking up. I kissed them goodnight and took a 3 hour nap. I still feel like I have jet lag!

Did I learn my lesson? Yes, 2 actually. I learned that Black Friday is definitely not as fun without my mom, and I would totally do it again!