Black Friday- revisited.

Black Friday is my free day of unadulterated shopping. It is the only time I spend Christmas shopping- it is highly caffeinated shopping. This last Black Friday was no different.
Cory woke up at 3:30- ready to set his place in line at Sports Authority. I was able to catch a few more winks of sleep- I left the house at 4:30.
My first destination was Walmart. I was planning to avoid Toys R Us at all costs- last years debacle was not going to be repeated (a different story...). I knew there was trouble when I couldn't find a parking spot. NOT ONE. After circling the lot for at least 15 minutes, I made up a spot in the wee back corner and trudged towards the store, which had just opened its doors.
No one was killed at my store- at least not that I am aware of, but it was mayhem. And the animosity was thick. Everywhere I looked there was some crazy person shoving five boxes of the same electronic into their already piled-high shopping cart and then ramming that shopping cart into the backs of the legs of the person in front of them, who was stuck. I was smart- I walked in and DID NOT grab a shopping cart. All I wanted was the $5 Barbie and the $10 Cabbage Patch baby.
A lot of misery for two stinkin dolls. A lot of "potty mouth" (as Blake would say) talk for $15 dollars of toys. AND, I was stuck in the swirling mass of gridlocked shopping carts, seriously hygiene-deprived crazy folk.
It was not the way I wanted to start the morning.
Once I finally managed to crawl out (my checker was Ann- I think she was nearly 92 years old...another story), I spent the next 4 hours shopping with a little less drama at Target, Sears, Macy's, JoAnn's, Radio Shack, and Staples. I did make a pit stop at Toys R Us around 9- it too was not a pretty sight. Glad I stayed away from there!
And my grand total of Christmas presents for the 4 kiddos, the grandmother, and the staff secret angel for Cory and I: $268. The 5 hour experience that not even my words can describe: PRICELESS.