Last Supper

Thursday we celebrated our last Thanksgiving without a child. Next year there will be one more mouth to feed, though I doubt a 10-month old can pack away that much turkey. 

It was a good meal as always on Thursday. My mom often comes to town for Thanksgiving but did not this year because she was in town last weekend for the baby shower. When she is in town, she, Tiffany and Tiffany’s mom typically head out early the day after Thanksgiving looking for Black Friday deals. 

Since my mom was not around and also because Tiffany’s mom had to work Friday, I substituted in the search for deals and it began Thursday night when Tiffany’s dad and I headed to Toys R’ Us/Babies R’ Us in the search for a humidifier that was half off, among other items we were sent to look for. That was a big mistake.

We headed to a Toys R’ Us and a Babies R’ Us combo store right around 10 at night when it opened. That was a mistake. There were about 2,000 folks already in line and that may be an under-estimate. I have no idea what they were waiting in line for and why someone would wait 3 hours in line in the hope to buy a Lego set $10 off but I digress. Needless to say we did not wait in line and went to another location only to find about 1,000 people in line there. We got home about 11:30 with no humidifier.

It worked out fine as Tiffany and I went the following morning and picked up the humidifier. That wasn’t our first stop though. We got up about 6 and got to the Target near our house at 6:30. I wouldn’t say it was crowded. Target had opened at 4 a.m., but everything in their circular was still in stock except for a pyrex set that we probably would have bought if they had it. It looked as though they stocked about five to start from the way the shelf looked. Still it was a productive trip especially considering they had a checker at every register so there was no wait when we were ready to check out.

We then headed to Home Depot where they were out of the Duracell batteries they were advertising, but we did get a new trash can for our kitchen . Once again there was no wait and we headed to Toys R’ Us/Babies R’ Us to look for the humidifier which we secured. There was no wait to enter the store and I showed Tiffany where the line had been the night before. She seemed skeptical, can’t say that I blamed her. I’m pretty convinced Babies R’ Us is keeping Toys R’ Us afloat. I can’t say I’ve ever had a positive experience shopping there. I challenge anyone to go into a Toys R’ Us any time of the day and go 5 minutes without hearing a screaming child or a parent scolding a child who eventually start crying. Come to think of it, maybe this is the reason everyone was in line at 10 at night.

We then headed over to the mall and visited Macy’s, which was packed, by far the busiest store.  We did buy a new coffee pot and waffle maker which were on sale only to find that they were both cheaper at Bed Bath and Beyond after you use their standard 20% off coupon. Tiffany returned them the next morning in favor of the better deal at Bed Bath and Beyond. 

I’m not sure I’m Black Friday material. I would probably do the local stores again, Target and Home Depot, since they are a short drive from our house, but I doubt I would do more than that in future. I suspect next year I might be on baby watch anyway.