Black Friday: The Best Day of the Year

I am really excited this year for Black Friday, which is my absolute favorite day of the year for many reasons. Above and beyond all of the great deals that you can find on the usual pillows, candles, cooties games, and free hot dogs and doughnuts, the Friday after Thanksgiving is the day that Dave and I went on our very first date. For those of you who don't know the details of our first date, I'll give them to you. Dave and I met at the bank, where Dave caught my eye and I though he was cute, too. Dave would always work the line by either speeding up his super service or slowing it down so that I would come to his window (I don't think I ever went to the bank without going to his window when he was there). Anyways, after a couple months of this, I gave Dave a gift certificate to the restaurant where I worked and told him to come in during a lunch shift that I was working. He came in and asked me on a date for the day after Thanksgiving. (As a side note, Dave couldn't wait and conned me into being his math tutor in the mean time even though he didn't need any help). So, the big day arrived and Dave and I went to Temple Square in Salt Lake. We wandered around looking at the lights and Dave told me a bunch of stories about when he worked there. In particular, he told me about these "tunnels" underneath Temple Square that the general authorities and others can use to access the various buildings. I thought Dave was making it all up and trying to tease me because he thought I was gullible or something. Anyways, I defiantly told him that no such tunnels existed, but that I would ask my dad whether Dave was telling the truth. After finishing up at Temple Square, we went to the ZCMI foodcourt and got hot chocolate and talked for a long time. After I got home I asked my dad about the tunnels, and, in case you are wondering, they do exist and my dad has been in them before. I can't believe that date was five years ago...

In addition to my fun first date with Dave are all the memories I have with Erica getting up way before dawn and standing in the freezing dark outside of Shopko. We had a routine every year. First, we would go to Shopko. We always tried to be the first in line, but I think we only made it once out of the six or so years we've gone. We would always go tearing through Shopko and would sometimes buy a fleece blanket, but usually we didn't buy anything. Then we would go to Smith's Marketplace and get breakfast, which consisted of doughnut holes and hot cider. One year I think I bought a large pillow while we were there. Then we would hit up Rite Aid, where we also didn't buy anything (nope, not even once). If we had time, then we would hurry over to K-Mart and then go to Target. Because Target always opened an hour later than Shopko, we usually ended up waiting in Target's line, too. Then we would go tearing through Target. After buying a couple of presents at Target, we would then go to Walgreens to stock up on the $5 videos that went up for sale at 7:30 and buy whatever lip gloss was on extreme sale. Then we'd get home pretty close to right after the sun came up and head to bed. What a day.

One of the funniest times was when we brought a video camera and began harassing the people in line by asking them stupid questions and interviewing them. We then took the video camera to Target and ran screaming through the store and video taped all the people running around. It is really crazy the things people do on the day after Thanksgiving. Usually you hear about at least one or two fist fights, but you also may be lucky enough to see people knocking over displays (like the chapstick display), dropping things (like a large bottle of oil), or generally being grumpy (who wouldn't be at 4:30 in the morning)? For those of you who have seen the movie Jingle all the Way, it really isn't that far from the truth.

This year I am going to go shopping with Samara in Austin, Texas, where they have lots of "stuff marts." We don't have these here in Wichita. Essentially, stuff marts have lots of "stuff" and it is impossible to predict exactly what they might have. Last year they had about a million different kinds of Christmas cards (maybe a million and a half, I can't be sure), a ton of 70 piece comforter and decoration sets that you can use to make your entire house match, and a bunch of other random things. I like stuff marts because I like to look around without necessarily buying anything and it's really amazing to see all the different things that there are that you can purchase. Seriously, I never knew that a lot of that stuff existed, let alone that I wanted to buy it. So, long story short, we are definitely going to be hitting those places up. I'll let you all know how it goes.